Thank you to Archaeo Discovery for running a great club this term for some of our KS2 pupils: they had a great time!

“It was pleasure running archaeology club at Chiddingly School. This group were so knowledgeable and enthusiastic! Over the course the children had the opportunity to handle real and replica artefacts and have a go at contemporary techniques used by professional archaeologists working today.

They tested their skills at excavation, map making, surveying and metal detecting. This group had a particular interest in geology and palaeontology, so one week we focused on fossils and even made our own! Definitely some future heritage workers and archaeologists to look out for here! www.archaeodiscovery.com

An amazing £147 was raised at the Fun Run! Well done all! The money raised was used to buy new play equipment for the school, so thank you to all those who sponsored the children.

Sycamore Class enjoyed a great trip recently to the British Wildlife Centre where they got to meet a multiplicity of animals including owls, foxes, badgers and weasels. The class learnt loads from our excellent keeper for the day – Claire. KS2 pupils also have been spreading some Christmas cheer at Chiddingly Village Shop to begin their festive weekend – thanks to all families who came along to support the excellent singing!

There was only ever one thing we could do for this fortnight’s newsletter and that is to celebrate the spectacular Nativity performance! The children have been working so hard over the past few weeks, whether this was learning lines, practising dances, singing the songs (which I think quite a few of the adults have had stuck in their heads too!) and their hard work was clear to see on Tuesday’s performance. Big shout outs have to go to Miss Waterman for her help with props and costumes, Miss Taylor for teaching and learning the actions to all of the songs and Mrs Mack for organising and being a director extraordinaire!

Thank you to parents for providing costumes and practising at home as well – your support, as always, is very much appreciated.

Both Sycamore and Willow classes enjoyed an afternoon concert from a group of Create Music musicians. The group came into school and performed a range of genres of music on their instruments and were full of praise for their attentive audience!

Willow had an amazing time on their school trip to the Science Centre. They loved exploring all of the different inventions in the different areas: the hallway, the water park and the discovery park. They also got to work a robot arm like the astronauts do on the space station, and they even got to watch a space show!

We had a fantastic morning learning all about the Great Fire of London with Hands on History. Firstly, we started with Mrs Eldridge getting dressed up as a soldier from 1666. Of course we found this hilarious, but were also surprised by the amount of layers they had to wear! We played a game outside using buckets and ping-pong balls to see what it would have been like trying to put out the fire with such limited resources; it was very tricky to keep the “water” in the buckets. We also built our very own miniature Tudor houses and learnt why they were so easily burned down due to the materials they were built from. Our favourite part was either seeing the tools that would have been used to put the fire out— they were very heavy and hard to carry around—or when the lovely Mrs Eldridge got dressed up again, but this time as Samuel Pepys’ wife! A huge thank you to Martin and the Hands on History team for such a brilliant and engaging morning!

Sycamore Class enjoyed a workshop delivered by Ellyn from Chartwells last week with the title: ‘Love your gut’! The class found out about the digestion system and even got to try out a mindful approach to eating fruit and vegetables.

Sycamore Class enjoyed a day organised by Earth Energy Education recently. The morning was taken up with workshops exploring how wind turbines work and investigating ways to make blades more effective and then the afternoon session included a trip to Shepham Wind Farm to be awed by the turbines and find out more about the renewable energy that they provide. To find out more about Earth Energy Education go to: www.earthenergyeducation.com

Beech has been learning even more about castles! We took a wonderful (yet hot!) trip to Lewes Castle where we had an actor-led tour, we watched a film to inform us all about the past and we played ‘dress up’ and got into character! In English, we wrote a recount about our trip and all that we learnt.

We’ve also been drawing our own portraits in Art and we wanted to share them with you!

WOW! What a fabulous fun run we had all dressed up as animals, making animal noises with Mr Cline (aka Chicken Man)! The children had a wonderful time followed by a very successful cake sale at the end of the day. Once again, thank you for all your support. We raised an impressive £284.50 for Raystede at Chiddingly! Watch this space to see who the winning school was!

Sycamore Class have had an amazing time away at PGL Windmill Hill on their residential trip. They took part in ten activities ranging from climbing and archery, to raft building and aeroball and the group were fantastic with lots of memories being made (and songs never to forget!)

Beech Class went to the beach! And what a great sunny day we had. The children loved being outside and turned into explorers for the day. We explored habitats to find what animals live on the beach and how they survive. We built our own tides as we learnt about how they work. We got stones and (plastic!) animals to build this! For some calm time, we made stone art and decorated some with special pens to take home a memory. Thank you for a fab day Beech Class… all your adults had a wonderful time with you.

We went on an adventure to Barn Farm and found out about cows, sheep and where our food comes from.

We looked at different crops grown in the fields and leant about the foods we eat! We then went for a walk to look at what is growing in our local area and the habitats in the forest.

Key stage 1 and 2 started World Book Day with an online story workshop hosted by the British Library. They took part in story telling and creating their own fairy tales with thousands of other children across the UK. Beech Class particularly loved storytelling with Michael Rosen and watching Allen Fatimaharan illustrate as the stories were being told.

What an amazing turn out on World Book Day this year. The children all dressed up as their favourite characters and the staff dressed up as famous people from “Little People, Big Dreams”. We had some really creative and varied costumes this year and it was brilliant to guess who everyone was.

Oak Class have been exploring different vehicles and their uses, looking closely at how cars, vans, bikes, horses and helicopters can be used in emergency services. We were very lucky to have a visit from Sussex Police, and we had a go trying on their uniforms and turning on their sirens! We have also been to space in a rocket, exploring the different planets and their characteristics, and thinking about what we would take with us on our space travels!

Willow Class had a great time last week at Hever Castle and learning more about the Tudors. They spent some time walking round the gardens looking at all of the lovely Christmas lights as well as the plants and statues.

They then headed into the small maze before going into the castle, where they got to see even more Christmas decorations. There were so many Christmas trees! The staff shared lots of facts about the castle with the children and to their surprise Willow class shared some facts of their own (they were very impressed!)

This Thursday we held a beautiful Remembrance Day assembly where the children had some time to remember and reflect on those who have served in the line of duty.

Beech class visited the ‘Van Gogh Alive’ museum and had great fun watching his paintings come to life. They even got to step inside his famous ‘bedroom’ painting! Another massive thank you to Hughes Educational Charity for funding this trip.

This week Oak Class went on a school trip to Hastings. They went to Blue Reef Aquarium, the Lifeboat Museum and spent some time on the beach. Some of their highlights are below. A massive thank you again to Hughes Educational Charity for funding this trip for three schools!

“Seeing the faces of the stingrays underneath them.”

“Looking in the bubble at the starfish.”

“The sharks swam right towards us.”

“Being under water in the tunnel.”

“Seeing the big orange boat that saved the people in the water.”

“Finding rocks on the Beach, I even found one with a hole all the way through!”

Sycamore Class enjoyed a full day of activities and exploration about solar energy last week. on Wednesday morning they took a trip to Berwick Solar Energy Farm and were able to see the plant in action. In the afternoon, Tracy Linney from Earth Energy Education led a workshop back at school where the class researched and designed ways to make the school site more sustainable in terms of energy. Tracy said, “Thank you so much for your children being just so wonderful today, both at the site this morning and for the afternoon workshop at school. They listened very well and were fully engaged during the whole day.”

A big thank you to the PFCS for their help and to Mr Elphick and Mr Brett for running a fantastic Sports Day this year. Well done to everyone who took part!

At the end of last term, Sycamore and Willow classes enjoyed a morning of sporting activities and even a trip to the zoo at Bede’s School. The children were mixed up into groups with Park Mead children and had coached sessions ranging from tennis to hockey, from football to cricket. The children represented our school brilliantly.

The Eco Helpers have been busy watering our vegetables and strawberries and helping take care of the garden area, including emptying out our compost bin.

Sycamore Class enjoyed their trip to Bexhill Museum to enhance their Victorian topic knowledge. In the morning they took part in four activities: from finding out how Bexhill evolved over the Victorian period to becoming a Victorian schoolchild; from exploring a Victorian kitchen diorama and gadgets to looking at Victorian dress and toys. The children were praised for their excellent behaviour by the Museum staff.

On the last Thursday of Term 4, Sycamore Class enjoyed a ‘Great Exhibition’ day together. Many dressed up in Victorian costume to learn more about the events and innovations at the 1851 Great Exhibition and the children brought their own inventions into school to demonstrate to others. There was also opportunities for cooking with Miss Webb (Queen Drop Biscuits) and a dance/ drama based on the Industrial Revolution. The day ended with an Old Music Hall performance of songs and talent to Willow Class.

We went to Barn Farm to find out about farming in our local community. We learnt lots of facts about where our food comes from, how to look after the animals and how the land and fields are used. We even got to feed the lambs, stroke the pig, see the cows and have a cuddle with a lamb. We then walked back to school and made a map of the route we walked and found out about our local area.

Last week Oak Class had their own medieval tournament. They came into school dressed as kings, knights, princesses, queens and they looked amazing. They had a great day making bread and in the afternoon they got a chance to make crowns and their own bow and arrow. This week the sun came out and they had a great time outside using the water wall and showing off their teamwork skills.

What a brilliant World Book Day! It was fantastic to see the children thoroughly engaged in all the activities and we had so many brilliant, creative costumes. Well done to all for their involvement in making it such a fun-filled, enriched day.

These are the ideas we came up with about how to stay safe online.

We should:

• Talk to your mum and dad or trusted adult if something
  pops up.
• Search things with an adult if you aren’t sure.
• Make sure you have your parents permissions to go on a
  website/app.
• You have to have screen breaks like we did on wellbeing
  Wednesday in lockdown.

We shouldn’t:

• Give out personal information.
• Befriend someone you don’t know.
• Go on new apps without checking with a trusted adult.
• Give out our personal details.
• Click on an advert or pop up.

We also had a quiz show in the classroom to see what we knew about staying safe.

Below are some websites that may help you to support your children and their online wellbeing.

What a fantastic job Oak and Beech Class did at their nativity on Tuesday. It was lovely to finally be able to invite parents in to see the nativity this year. What a brilliant performance it was!

Sycamore Class had an excellent visit to the botanic gardens at Wakehurst this week. They explored the grounds and found out how trees and plants have adapted to survive in their environment and they also made art from natural resources. In the afternoon, they visited the Millennium Seed Bank to look at the smallest and largest seeds in the world and research more through a scavenger hunt for answers! The children represented the school well and were described as ‘lovely’ by the adults there, with their listening and questioning skills being praised also.

Willow have been learning about ‘where we are’ in the world and have been exploring the local history, the physical and the human features of our local area. We loved having the opportunity to be a part of this community whilst singing at the village shop on Thursday, spreading some Christmas cheer. We have been focusing on these positive attitudes and behaviours through an anti-bullying focus in the last two weeks, and have begun to write our own resilience poems in literacy, which we can’t wait to share when finished!

This year the theme for antibullying week is ‘Reach Out’. The children have been learning about bullying at an age-appropriate level within their classes. They have been reflecting on who they can ‘reach out’ to.

“We care about each other and made our odd socks to show everyone is different and special” Pippa

“We make right choices and we are kind to everybody in different places around school” Frances

“Bullying is not being kind to someone repeatedly every day and not respcting their differences. We looked at how we are different and unique like our fingerprints” Stanley

“We learnt about bullying and being kind and not being being selfish. You can always reach out!” Elsa

“We respect each other and we shouldn’t bully others for any differences” Lyla

“If we have a problem we should always talk to someone like our family, brothers and adults in school” Henry

Beech class went to the Toy Museum last term and had a great time learning about toys in the past. They were so grateful to have this opportunity which was funded by a local charity.

Sycamore Class had an absolute blast at their ‘alternative’ residential. Mrs Vile, Miss Webb and other staff worked tirelessly to ensure that the three-day event still went ahead after a late cancellation and families supported us with tents (thanks Ottaway family) and lifts (much appreciated all that helped). The children camped over at school for two nights (enjoying a campfire with Miss Waterman as well as a pizza and movie night) and in the daytime enjoyed a multiplicity of activities, ranging from ‘Hands-on-History’ visiting to teach us more about the Vikings to a 100 foot inflatable assault course turning up on the school field! Day trips out included visiting the aqua park and laser tag at Bewl Water, as well as ten pin bowling and rock climbing! The children’s behaviour, appreciation and motivation throughout was exemplary.

On Friday 24th June, Sycamore Class got the chance to take part in a world record attempt at Bede’s Senior School. They joined with other pupils from Bede’s as well as local primary schools to create a huge picture of the world. This was linked to Bede’s Earth Day where the children also found out about ways to better sustain the Earth and had lunch thrown in as well!

On Monday 20th June, some children from Sycamore Class went to Park Mead to participate in the Pioneer Federation football tournament. We are proud to say that our team won! What a fantastic effort and comradery shown from our pupils. Well done team!

The children produced some beautiful artwork for display in Chiddingly Church for the Queen’s Jubilee. A big thank you to Miss Waterman and her daughter Lilian for displaying it all for us — it looked brilliant!

Last week Oak Cass went on a school trip to Hastings. We had an amazing time: we looked round the aquarium and did a scavenger hunt to see what animals they could find. We also went to look at the lifeboat in the lifeboat centre. After that we all played on the beach and enjoyed an ice cream before heading home on the coach.

Last week some children took part in a Badminton Festival at East Hoathly. The pupils took part in different badminton activities which tested their skills of aim, rallying and movement and then put these into practice in a range of mini doubles matches. The children were mixed up into 4 teams and each team competed to win points, each team showed great team work, communication and had lots of fun, despite the challenge of the wind! A big well done to all the children who took part!

Jack from East Hoathly has written his own Sports Report of the event.

Today there was a badminton tournament. When it started we just threw the shuttlecock back and forth to get the handle of it. Then Mr. Brett placed down some hoops for us to throw the shuttlecock into, if you got the closest hoop you got 1 point, middle hoop 2 points and furthest hoop 3 points. Mr. Brett made it so we all went onto one side to hit them into the hoops. Then we did 5 minutes of practice. Then we did one person from Chiddingly and one from East Hoathly and we did a match against each team. We did a lot of matches for a bit, then we moved onto doubles. It was a very peaceful and slightly competitive game: both teams worked very hard to win against each other but overall it was a friendly game. Then we added up all our points for the grand total.

Willow Class had a fantastic Roman Day last week! The company Hands on History came into school with numerous artefacts and replicas in which they creatively showed the children. They learnt of where the Roman fit in the historic timeline first, with fascinating objects from each main era. They also learnt about Roman jobs and how they learnt to make fire! After that, the children got to partake in a battle (against the teachers!) where they got to hold Roman shields and march in formation. The afternoon started with learning about what the Romans wore (dressing up the teachers!) and how they cured people if they were ill. And the day finished with a gory finale where poor Mr Lulham (East Hoathly’s Year 3 and 4 teacher) had his leg amputated (a dramatic illusion of course)! Overall, they had a brilliant day not to be forgotten!

Last week we had Knockhatch visit our school, we were lucky enough to meet an owl, cockroach and a teneric! We found out how they grew and lived in their habitats. We found out lots of different facts about these animals. A big thank you to Finley’s mum and Mrs Mackarness for organising.

On Thursday 3rd March, we had our World Book Day where all the children dressed up as their favourite book characters.

We also had a special visit from author Lucie Kleboe. She is the author of ‘The cockerel who couldn’t tell time’. Miss Waterman is the illustrator and they both lead workshops and did signings of their fabulous book! You can still purchase it here:

• https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-cockerel-that-couldnt-tellthe-time/lucie-kleboe/9781838755102
• https://pegasuspublishers.com/books/lucie-kleboe/the-cockerel-that-couldn___t-tell-the-time

Willow Class had a fantastic Tudor day on Tuesday this week! They looked wonderful in their Tudor outfits – it really felt like we had been sent back in time! In the morning, they made gingerbread biscuits, mini Tudor houses out of paper and did some acting out in a role play area in the classroom.

In the afternoon we transformed the classroom into a Tudor banquet room with lavish tablecloths and a display of all of their Tudor work, including their sugar icing sculptures. We then tucked into the delicious gingerbread that had been made in the morning.
What a fun day had by all!

Last week was Anti-Bullying week and the theme was ‘One Kind Word’. The children started the week by designing their own odd socks and listening and thinking about kind words they could use. They explored friendships and celebrated how everyone was different! The classes used their PSHE sessions to talk about their feelings. As a whole school we came together to talk about gestures and kindness we can share in our school community.

The children all took part in Remembrance Service this week: some in school and some at the church. Sycamore Class went to the church and the Year 6s read the names of the fallen. The Reverend commented what a fantastic group they were and in fact said he’s never had such a brilliant set of readers for Remembrance Service before. Well done Sycamore! Also a big thank you to Miss Waterman for the beautiful painting up in the hall where the children laid the poppies that they made.

The Eco Team used litter pickers this week to pick up litter around the school. They found various bits of litter, including plastic wrappers. They did such a fantastic job of cleaning up our school and were so proud of how the school looked afterwards. Thank you Eco Team!

Click here to view

On the last day of term, we enjoyed celebrating International Day and learning about Australia. It was great to see everyone arriving at school in the Australian sporting colours of green and gold!

Oak Class joined with their buddies and Sycamore Class for the day. We enjoyed a range of challenges which involved working together. Their Australian dot paintings were particularly impressive, as were the boomerangs which they made and tested on the playground! Willow Class worked with Beech Class for lots of interesting learning. They took part in Aboriginal art and also found out lots of facts about Australia. It was lots of fun to learn and use some typical Aussie words!

At lunchtime, the menu included slightly different options including the ‘Aussie BBQ Chook Burger’, which was very tasty!

The Pupil Governors asked the classes for some ideas for fund raising activities to raise money for the Red Cross who are supporting the Australian people in the bush fire emergencies. The children came up with lots of great ideas and Miss Waterman kindly agreed to paint our faces with Australian themed designs for a small donation to the charity. There were also key stage penalty shoot-outs at lunchtime, won by William and Lucas, and a delicious cake sale at the end of the day.

Thank you to all of the parents and carers who came to enjoy our celebration assembly in the afternoon and to those who made and bought cakes for our sale. We raised an amazing £170.30 for charity!

“JP has learnt how to divide.” Ryan “Ryan helped me with this learning.” JP

Elijah explained how he wrote about a dinosaur. JP and Ryan were impressed at his work. “Well done”, said JP.

“Rowan’s work is very good. I can tell his hand writing had got better by the end of his book.” Austin

“You can see at the start of her book Annie is trying hard with her writing and by the end she’s doing a lot more writing and her letter formation is so much better!” Chloe

“Poppy has learnt to check her work and she’s been checking spellings.” Molly

Albert and Liam said, “Rebecca’s work is so much neater and she is getting lots more done.”

Chiddingly School celebrated National E-Safety Day! We had an assembly dedicated to Online Safety then the children, in their individual classes, had a workshop from Andrew Gunn, an ICT and E-Safety expert.

Mr Gunn explained about the uses of technology using current (and fascinating!) examples. The children understood how important technology around them is but they also learnt how to be cautious with it too. The children learnt about how screen time will effect their mood, sleep and overall health. They learnt how it’s important that they are careful with what they write online as they each have a ‘Digital Footprint’ which stays online for a long time. The children reflected on what they had learnt by completing tasks (like creating e-safety posters and having discussions around e-safety).

Sycamore Class, additionally, had E-Safety Ambassadors from Kings Academy Ringmer come to talk to them about Online Safety. They showed the children a video to allow them to understand the importance of being safe online.

There are also some photos of Reception and their ‘office’ on Safer Internet Day below. They learnt to use the track pad to choose their own activities on Purple Mash and enjoyed logging in with their own passwords. Mr Gunn also talked to them about who we trust to help us online and to keep our information safe.

Beech Class have had a very exciting start to their term. They were starting their English lesson when a message arrived asking them if they knew anything about some strange eggs in the playground. They had to go and investigate… two dinosaur eggs were found in a nest! Mrs Mackarness took them into the classroom and they waited to see what would happen. A week later, during assembly, they hatched and Beech Class came back to three footprints on the floor of the classroom. There were lots of questions about where the dinosaurs had escaped to and some brilliant writing explaining their ideas! If you see the dinosaurs, please let Beech Class know!

by Lilly H

On Friday, Sycamore Class and Willow Class went to Chiddingly church for a Christingle service.

“In the beginning of her book her letters were big and not on the line but now they are small and on the line!”

“I could really see progress in her art from the beginning to the end!”

“In her Tudor topic book it is really neat and tidy- she’s taken a lot of care over her work! In Spanish she’s shown how much she has been trying!”

“I have chosen this bit of work because it is all about the scientist who found out about electricity, he has learnt a lot and used it in his learning!”

“Her painting skills have got better and more detailed over the term!”

“His experiment shows his understanding when he was separating particles. He didn’t know it at the beginning but he does now!”

Willow Class took a very exciting trip to Hever Castle with East Hoathly, as part of their learning about the Tudors. The children had a brilliant time! A big thank you to all the volunteers.

Thank you again to the Eco helpers and Mrs Hinder for working on the plant beds in the trim trail area this week.

This week, Mrs Hinder came in to support the Eco Warriors again. They worked so hard to dig out the flowerbeds; getting rid of weeds and preparing the area for planting new things soon! A massive thank you again to Mrs Hinder.

A big thank you to Mrs Hinder for volunteering to help our Eco Helpers this week!

The new eco group has been assembled and eco boards updated! Now the hard work begins.

The children will be encouraging recycling and saving energy plus looking after the garden area.

Please remember that we have a crisp packet recycling scheme. The crisp packet box is in the hall and you are welcome to bring packets in to school to recycle.

Ask Mrs Dann if you are unsure where the box is.

On Saturday 13th July, some Sycamore children took part in the Uckfield Grand Prix. Fun was had by all and the children did Chiddingly proud! A big thank you goes to Charles for volunteering with go karts each year — we are very grateful!

What spectacular performances of Aladdin Trouble this week! Well done to all the children for their hard work and determination and a big thank you to the staff and volunteer helpers and the PFCS for serving refreshments.

On Monday, the Reception classes from Chiddingly and East Hoathly visited Hastings. There was a buzz of conversation, as the children talked excitedly about eating their picnics on the beach.

Upon arriving in Hastings, the children were particularly excited for our visit to the Blue Reef Aquarium, where they were able to explore the various tanks filled with clown fish, upside down jelly fish and tank full of sharks and sting rays. Whilst there, we were lucky enough to talk to one of the aquarium staff who told us all about puffer fish and then let us witness the feeding of the fish in the big ocean tank! Oak Class had their clipboards and pencils ready and drew some great pictures of the sealife they could see around them.

We then took a walk along the seafront to visit the fishermen’s museum and ‘life boat station’ where we were told how the life boat was pushed into the water, when it was needed. After a busy morning of site seeing the children had lunch on the beach, enjoyed playing by the water’s edge, throwing stones into the water, all whilst trying not to get too wet or have their lunch nabbed by seagulls.

Finally we all enjoyed an ice cream before jumping on the coach back to school. All the children and adults had a lovely day exploring and finding out lots of information, the children came up with some great recounts of their day!

On Monday 24th June, Willow class dressed up and hosted a whole day of ‘Hands on History’ with their Federation counterparts! In mixed school groups, the children rotated around three brilliant activities which gave them the opportunity to show off what they already knew, and build on their understanding of how the Ancient Greeks lived.

It’s safe to say that the shield and sword activity outside was a firm favourite – although not so much for the adults who got chased around by an angry mob of Spartan warriors! The children also got the chance to see some artefacts up close and thought carefully about what they were used for. The final activity involved comparing Greek and Roman gods and goddesses and trying out some Ancient Greek writing. They also spent some time learning about life at home and the Ancient Greek’s rather ‘original’ approach to medicine! It was so lovely to have all three schools together with the staff and parent helpers sometimes finding it difficult to know which child was from which school as they all mixed together so well! A huge thank you to our parent helpers and to all the parents for their efforts in the costumes; the children looked so fantastic and it really added to our day!

A big thank you to everyone for such a fantastic turn out on Sports Day last term! Also a big thank you to Miss Denney, Mr Lawrence and the PFCS for all their organisation and help with setting up. It was a brilliant day and fun was had by all.

A really big thank you to Sam, Nick, Louise, Amy, Mr Lawrence and Mr Herdman for a brilliant job at Ground Force day! We really appreciate all your help and giving up your spare time to do some much needed work on the school. Also a thank you to Mr Forsey for giving up his time to work on Beech class’ sink.

On Friday 29th March, we had a brilliant Enrichment Morning. Children used their strategic skills in backgammon, went on a journey walk in Forest School, made creative jewellery, made beautiful fabric collages, wrote some fantastic poems or completed Lego challenges!

Thank you again to all the staff and volunteers for their hard work in organising these memorable mornings.

On Wednesdays, we have some very kind volunteers from Chiddingly Church lead the Jesus And Me club. Please see Mrs Dann if you would like your child to join.

On Thursday, Pioneer took two teams to the Ringmer Cluster Schools Swimming Gala. A team from East Hoathly and a team from Chiddingly competed against each other and other schools in our local area.

The swimmers from Year 5 & 6 competed in individual 25 metre swims, individual 75 metre swims and team relays of 75 and 100 metres, using different swimming techniques.

The teams were split into two heats and then the races were timed and put into fastest order. These scores were then added together to work out the winning team.

Our team of swimmers showed an exceptional level of sportsmanship by cheering on their team mates and calming each other’s nerves. The swimmers were speeding through the races with some coming first, second, third and fourth in their heats. As a team, East Hoathly came 5th and Chiddingly came 7th overall.

It was so lovely to see how our children stepped up to the competition, supported each other and had fun! I would like to say thank you to our parents for supporting us with loud cheers and providing travel arrangements which allowed the children to take part!

Well Done Team!

What fantastic costumes we had for this year’s World Book Day! Such a wide range of book characters were seen at Chiddingly on Thursday. We had the likes of Harry Potter, Mary Poppins, Little Miss Sunshine and even the spooky Slappy from Goosebumps! This year’s winners of the book tokens can be seen in the photo to the right. Thank you to the PFCS for providing the prizes and a big well done to all
the children for putting in such a huge effort this year! As you can see from the photo below, most of the staff dressed up as crayons from the ‘The Day the Crayons Quit’ and looked great!

On Tuesday 5th March, Beech Class went on a trip with East Hoathly Year 1/2 Class to Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare. Please see Molly’s write up on the next page. A big thank you to all the adult helpers!

On the last day of Term 3, we had another Enrichment Morning. Children chose an activity: sewing, jewellery making, backgammon, watercolours, Thrive or a range of physical activities including welly throwing. Yet again, the children and staff had a fantastic time and what a brilliant way to finish a successful term with the children learning new and exciting skills!

On Wednesday 13th February, children took part in a Progress and Learning assembly. The children brought their books to the assembly and they all sat with someone from a different year group to share what they had learnt so far this year.

Orla and Ria discussed what progress means and said, “Progress means that you improve your writing and in your work. Progress also means you might not be able to do something at the beginning of the year but now you can.”

Amber in Willow said, “Elijah has improved in his writing!”

Megan in Sycamore said, “I am proud because Lucy got all her answers right in maths.”
George said, “I found some beautiful work of Freddie’s. He had to make the diamond bigger and it was very beautiful.”

Summer in Sycamore said, “I didn’t use semi colons at the beginning of the year but now I can. Also, Vinnie’s improved his writing so it is so much clearer.”#

Chloe said, “Molly wasn’t using capital letters at the start of her book but now she can.”

On Monday, Oak Class went on their first school trip. We all got onto a coach and visited the fire fighters at Uckfield Fire Station. The children were given a tour of the fire engines, as well as being shown the uniforms and equipment used to put out fires, and help save people and animals from tall buildings and trees. All the children were given the opportunity to sit inside the fire engine cab and experience what it would be like to travel in the engine, as a real fire fighter. The children all had a go at throwing a buoyancy aid with a rope. We were really impressed at how far they could throw it; it’s quite heavy! The highlight of the trip for all the children was being able to spray the hose. The fire fighters were great with the children and even let them spray down some of their cars!

A great trip with lots of conversation and writing, as a result. Great work, Oak Class!

On Friday 14th December, we held another successful Enrichment Day. The children got the opportunity to take part in one chosen activity: Thrive, making cakes, Russian, mod roc, rugby, woodcraft or making Christmas decorations.

On Thursday 13th December, Key stage 2 took part in a basketball skills competition.

Each class was split into 4 teams and the teams took part in challenges to win points by passing, shooting and dribbling. The children were fantastic in cheering each other on and being supportive by giving coaching tips.

Some of the activities the children completed were:

Basketball golf – The children had 4 different ‘tees’, to shoot at the hoop and for each basket scored they scored a point.

Ball in the ring – This is a ‘piggy in the middle’ style game but with a ring of children passing the ball across a circle, whilst the opposing team try and stop them 1 at a time.

Dibbling Relay – Each team had to dribble through a series on cones and sit down when all team members had completed the challenge.

After completing their own year group challenges the Sports Crew then lead the Year 3/4 Competition alongside Mr Lawrence. It was a great afternoon and we look forward to the children participating in other sporting events like this across the year!

All of the children participating had a brilliant time, it was really great to see how they supported each other and all used their growth mindsets to keep going and have a go!

The Year 3/4 Winning Team with a total of 72 Points was ‘The Pink Team’ so well done to them!

The Year 5/6 and Overall Winning Team with a grand total of 84 Points was ‘The Green Team’ so a big well done to them as well!

This week, Oak class have been exploring owls and nocturnal animals, as part of our ‘Noisy Nightlife’ topic. With the help of Mr and Mrs Ward, we arranged for an owl to come and visit us at school. The children were so excited to see an owl up close and find out more information about how they live. We thought that all owls were nocturnal but found out that many are not!

Our visitor was called Rusty and was incredibly well behaved. Rusty is a Tawny Owl which is native to the UK and is indeed nocturnal. The children were all given the opportunity to stroke Rusty and some even had a go at holding him, keeping their arm straight so as to mimic a branch. We absolutely loved our visit and the children were so excited to talk about the experience afterwards.

We would like to sat a big thank you to Owen for taking the time to come and visit us and give us more information on owls, to Rusty for being a wonderful guest and to Mr and Mrs Ward for arranging the logistics.

The children, and adults alike, loved the whole experience!

On Monday, Oak Class were super excited to hear that they were going to have a ‘Mystery Reader’ coming in for the afternoon. They were even more excited when they found out that the mystery reader was… Miss Dudeney’s dad!

Our mystery reader read to the children and afterwards, the children discussed their thoughts on the characters and the plot. We used this as an opportunity to have an open question session with our guest, as all the children had been learning about question words and wanted to practice using them. They also enjoyed asking questions about Miss Dudeney’s dog, Dougal!

After we had finished listening to and discussing the story, the children explored the books in our class library; some children even asked if they could read them with our guest!

We loved having our mystery reader in and the children loved sharing books from the Oak Class library afterwards. Some of the children decided to explore their own books at home and bring them in to share with the class the following day.

Oak Class enjoyed their reading afternoon so much that they voted to have regular book sharing sessions.

Miss Dudeney and Oak Class would like to say a huge thank you to all the parents whom have volunteered to be ‘Mystery Readers’ in Oak Class over the coming weeks.

Please remember to keep it a surprise, if you are coming in!

On Wednesday some of the children dressed up in World War One inspired costumes and they looked great! We have been learning all about World War One this week in classrooms. On Friday we had a Remembrance Service in the hall.

On Friday morning the children took part in Enrichment Day and got to experience some fantastic activities!

On Thursday 11th October the children shared their work in assembly with children from other classes.

“Conner’s handwriting has improved a lot, he is using more cursive. There is also more content.” – Thomas

“Amelie has improved the amount and content she writes.” – Priya

“The quantity of writing has really improved. There’s much more now than the start of term in Josie’s book.” – Lottie

“It’s all joined up and there’s a lot of writing.” – Daisy G about Lottie’s work

On Thursday 20th September, some Chiddingly school children and families took part in the opening event of this year’s 40th anniversary of Chiddingly Festival, the lantern walk.

On Friday 6th July, East Hoathly and Chiddingly Reception classes joined together for Pirate Day.

They worked together to create their own mini pirates and pirate hats and carefully walked the plank. At lunch time we had a picnic together and explored the field. The children had a lovely day with their friends.

Last week, Sycamore went on their residential and what an amazing week we had! The children were all so brave in trying new activities, behaved beautifully and made great new friends with the East Hoathly children in their groups. One of the instructors commented that it was impossible to tell which child was from which school as they all got on so well.

Thank you, Sycamore, for being such a pleasure to take on residential. I wish we could go back and do it all over again!

On Tuesday, the Year 6s from Chiddingly and East Hoathly represented Pioneer Federation absolutely brilliantly at a Diocesan leavers’ service in Crowborough. With the help of Miss Benkel, Chiddingly children made themselves a beautiful school banner. All were model students throughout. They took part in the service by processing their banner and the bible up the church aisle and singing a lot of new songs. Well done, Year 6, you make us all very proud.

Willow class, with the Year 3/4 class from East Hoathly, thoroughly enjoyed their trip to Fishbourne Roman Palace on Thursday 14th June. It was a jam packed day where the children enjoyed an introduction video telling them all about the Palace and what it would have been like in Roman times. They explored the museum and had talks with Fishbourne representatives who were very informative. There were interactive activities dotted all around the site for the children to explore whilst looking at the extraordinary mosaics! And lastly, they took part in a special Roman workshop where they got to dress up as Romans and take part in a huge variety of different activities that Roman’s would have done. A special thanks to Mr Taylor, Brian and Gemma, the parent helpers that helped Willow on this great trip!

The children all thoroughly enjoyed their Roman Day on Wednesday! We had lots of great Roman costumes – thank you for the huge effort! The children enjoyed all the activities of the day – they made Roman coins, wreaths, Roman shields, sewing personalised crest badges and acting out a Roman battle! Albert says, “The best activity was making the shields!” and Lottie said, “I had lots of fun on our Roman dress up day!”

We enjoyed a fabulous day in the sunshine at the castle! We explored the beautiful grounds, had a picnic lunch by the moat and then learnt about the castle by going on a guided tour. The day was finished with sketching the building whilst enjoying ice lollies!

Thanks to the PFCS for funding our tasty treats and to the wonderful parents who supported and made the trip possible.

On Friday 18th May, the Pioneer Federation held a special Celebration Day for the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The children and staff swapped their uniforms for red, white and blue clothing and enjoyed learning lots about our Royal Family and what happens at a wedding. Lots of interesting activities went on in classes.

At lunchtime, the playground was transformed into a royal celebration banquet with a very long table! We all enjoyed sharing lunch together in the sunshine!

Many thanks to all of you who provided cakes for the PFCS bake sale after school. Thanks also to Miss Waterman for decorating the outside area for the party.

WOW what a week, we have all experienced a different sporting workshop each day – even the teachers got involved too! There have been so many comments from parents and children about how much they have enjoyed this week, please fill in the comments sheet the children have brought home.

All the workshops have been offered by our local providers in the hope that if interested the children can branch out and continue learning the sport.

On Monday it was street dance day, we brought our funky moves and attitude to the hall and created our own dance shows after learning some key breakdancing moves like the ‘Corkscrew and W drop’!

On Tuesday we explored the alternative sport fencing with Mr Lawrence.

On Wednesday we perfected our golf swing and our aim towards targets.

On Thursday Amy Hillyard, a GB sprinter, taught us some fast paced sprinting techniques and talked about the importance of not giving up and always trying your best in all areas of life, not just sport!

On Friday we were joined by Greg from East Hoathly Tennis club in our tennis courts, where there were tennis balls everywhere! We learnt how to stand in the ready position and perfect our forehand shot.

Throughout all the sessions we thought about the importance of physical exercise and healthy eating to keep us fit.

We would like to thank the local coaches we used to provide the workshops. If you would like any more information about the clubs and sessions they provide you can download leaflets and find links to their websites below:

Street Dance	www.universaldance.co.uk	Universal Dance  Little Mix Dance Camp 2018  Disney Dance Bootcamp 2018
Tennis – Greg at East Hoathly Tennis Club	clubspark.lta.org.uk clubspark.lta.org.uk/easthoathlyhallandtennisclub	Easter Tennis Camps 2018
Golf – Jack at East Sussex National Golf Club	www.eastsussexnational.co.uk/golf-academy	Junior Golf Academy 2018

On Monday Pioneer, took two teams to the Ringmer Cluster Schools Swimming Gala. A team from Chiddingly and a team from East Hoathly competed against each other and four other schools in our local area.

The swimmers from Year 5 & 6 competed in individual 25 Metre swims, individual 75 Metre swims and team relays of 75 and 100 metres, using different swimming techniques. The teams were split into two heats and then then the races were timed and put into fastest order. These scores were then added together to work out the winning team.

Our team of swimmers showed an exceptional level of sportsmanship cheering on their team mates, swimmers from East Hoathly and other swimmers in the pool. They also showed how they have developed their growth mind sets in trying something new and giving their best efforts. As a school and team this is the first swimming gala many of them have ever attended.

As a team Chiddingly came 3rd and the pupils have a new found interest in swimming competitively. As a teacher on pool side I was so proud of how our children stepped up to the competition and thankful to our parents for supporting us with loud cheers and providing travel arrangements which allowed the children to take part!

Well Done Team!

We celebrated World Book Day on Thursday 1st March. We wrote letters to people we admire throughout the week and we have posted these off – fingers crossed we hear back! We got dressed up as our favourite book characters and shared our books with each other. Here are some photos of us looking fabulous!

We were also lucky enough to have a visit from an author this week – Giles Paley-Phillips. He came to talk to us about what it is like to be an author and also to share his book ‘Superchimp’.

This week we enjoyed our ‘Progress and Learning’ PALs assembly to celebrate all of our achievements in Term 3. The children sat with those in different classes and shared their books. They were able to talk about what they themselves had made great progress with and also identified where their partner had made progress with their learning by looking at their books.

It was really exciting to look at all of the great learning that had taken place. All of the staff were so impressed with how children of all ages were able to talk confidently about themselves and others.

On Thursday 8th February Beech Class spent a fantastic day at Paradise Park! We learned about lots of different kinds of dinosaurs, saw how many we could name, had a go on the earthquake machine and rode the miniature train! A big thank you to the parent helpers, and well done to the children for being brilliant ambassadors for Chiddingly Primary School.

Children from the Pioneer Federation took part in an E-Safety Day on Wednesday 7^th February 2018. Andrew Gunn was invited into the Pioneer Federation to teach the children about how to be safe online. Andrew taught all year groups about the internet and its power. Andrew built on the children’s knowledge of the acronym ‘SMART’ and made them aware of how they can continue their safe practice online. The children made large Hector the Dolphins to display in their classroom to be there as a reminder of what to do with Hector (who swims in the top corner of every screen on a school curriculum laptop). A Hector is on display in each classroom to remind the children how they can be safe at all times when on the internet – whether at school or at home. Here are some photos of the great designs of Hector in the classrooms!

Children and young people are likely to be as good as, if not better than, their parents at using the Internet. However, being good at using technology does not mean they have the life-experience and wisdom to handle all of the situations they can come across.

Children and young people are prone to the same kinds of risks (including spam and scam emails, fraud and identity theft) as everybody else. However, there are also other, more sinister threats that may result from going online, such as inappropriate contact from people who may wish to abuse, exploit or bully them, and exposure to inappropriate material.

The parent forum was very informative; it opened my eyes to the possibilities of the internet. – Parent

We were learning to obey the ages of things like Snapchat.
Not everyone is who they say they are online.
Hector the Dolphin helps you keep safe online.
We’ve learnt that if you see something inappropriate, you link on Hector the Dolphin.
ICT is a great source of learning! – Pioneer Federation Pupils

Willow Class, along with East Hoathly’s Year 3/4 class, thoroughly enjoyed their team building trip at Walton Firs activity centre on Tuesday 23rd January! After an early start, they took part in a range of activities such as crate stacking, caving, photo orienteering, adventure trail and the night line. In all the activities, the children worked well together as a team and encouraged each other to achieve things that they didn’t think they could! They loved getting muddy and mucky in the adventure course – having to climb over and up and swing to and from obstacles. Caving was an adventure in itself and crate stacking tested the children’s feel for heights! Overall they all had a fantastic day!

On Tuesday 16th January, we had Mathematics Day. We felt that the children needed to gain more confidence with working with and solving problems linked to fractions. Each class focussed on this and we had a whole day of fractions activities. Year R concentrated on finding wholes and halves while Year 1 and 2 started to explore quarters of shapes. Year 3 and 4 did some cross curricular activities involving designing their own flags. They were able to work out what fraction of each colour they had. Year 5 and 6 independently chose what they needed to practice and worked on it. This included looking at comparing and finding equivalent fractions; multiplying and dividing fractions; adding and subtracting fractions! In the afternoon, they created a fruit salad – measuring out according to different ratios.

In the afternoon, the whole school got to together for the House Team Quiz! The children had to work out mathematics questions but if they got stuck they could ask a friend on their team or a team member in the audience.

On Wednesday 13th December we had our school Christmas production. All the children put on a fantastic performance. Well done to them for all their hard work and determination to put on an excellent show!

Well done to all of the children who performed at the Uckfield Late Night Shopping Event on Friday 1st December. The children’s enthusiasm and energy was clear and the staff were so proud of the children’s performance. It was great to see children from both Pioneer Schools coming together and looking after each other at the rehearsals earlier in the week and this year we had more children taking part than ever before! Thank you, as well, to the staff, friends and families who came to support the children – I think we had the loudest crowd on the night!

On Tuesday, Sycamore went back in time to the early 1940s for their evacuee day! The first job of the day was to sort them into their new ‘families’. Miss Lewis, Miss Chewter, Mrs Thompson and Mr Lawrence came in to see the children lined up and chose the ones they thought looked most suitable for the jobs. Mrs Thompson was very thorough in checking to see whether she thought they looked strong and tough! The children who didn’t get picked went into Miss Hare’s new family and, after initially looking quite pleased about this, were soon appalled to learn that their jobs would be to ensure that the classroom and surrounding areas where kept spotless! For the rest of the morning, the children got busy writing postcards home to their old families in London and cooking an eggless sponge or potato and cheese dumplings in the kitchen.

In the afternoon, the evacuees worked incredibly hard to cover their boxes with paper to make gas mask boxes. They showed real determination in this as it was not easy! We kept time at the end of the day to sample the food they had cooked. The cake was a huge hit! The cheese and potato dumplings were not so much…! All the Chiddingly staff were so impressed with the children’s costumes and behaviour during the whole day and it meant the day was a complete success and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone! Well done, Sycamore! Thank you for making the day so much fun!

What is happening within the schools for Anti-bullying week?

This week was Anti-Bullying week, with a focus on difference and equality. This week’s national focus has stemmed from a rise in negativity towards difference around the world.

The focus in school has been on celebrating children all being unique, helping children feel valued within their schools, understanding that it is okay to be different and that being different is not a reason to be bullied.

What is bullying?

A lot of children use the term bullying because they don’t understand what is happening.

Falling out with friends and friendships is a normal part of growing up, it can often happen due to a minor incident, and it is about dealing with this appropriately.

When children are older, this can often be put onto social media.

What is bullying? – 4 KEY WORDS – REPETITIVE, HURTFUL, INTENTIONAL, POWER

Definition – “the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group where the relationship involves an imbalance of power’. This definition should be thought about when deciding if an issue is bullying or if it is a friendship issue and it can then be dealt with in an appropriate manner.

In school, we have had various activities for all year groups across the week looking at anti-bullying and the importance of our key statement, ‘Lend a hand, make a stand, say NO to bullying’. Each class have created posters and the winners were announced in the Anti-Bullying assembly on Thursday 16th November.

Bullying online and online safety

There is a vast difference between parental and child knowledge, awareness and worries when it comes to online safety.

Parents worry about appropriate content, stranger interaction and grooming, whereas children worry about cyber bullying and violet or sexual content.

Children also know how to use more features of apps and sites than parents do. It is important to inform children that anything they post or share online and virtually will be there forever and could impact their future lives, examples of this are happening in the media at the moment.

An important message – Treat others as you would like to be treated. Don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t say to someone face to face.

What can you do as parents?

All apps and online sites have guidance on the appropriate ages for use, it is important to discuss these with your children and the possibilities or incidences that may occur when using them. It is also important to discuss what is appropriate use and what is not.

Guidance for ages:

It is also important that, as parents, you monitor the amount of time spent online and what the children are going on.

As parents, there are ways that you can filter content when online and when your children are using games and streaming sites . This can be done through your browser setting, parental controls. You can also contact your internet or broadband provider directly and they can put filters in place using the connection line.

Interesting and thought provoking statistics

• 15% of parents will build an online presence of a child before they are even born, e.g. sharing scan pictures, baby gender reveals, photos of growing bumps.
• By the time a child is 5 there is an average of 1000 pictures of them shared online by parents and family members.
• In a lifetime there is upwards of 25,000 photos of a person online.
• 1 in 5 young people believe everything they read online.

Apps

Below is a list of apps to be aware of, some of these apps open up the risk of cyber bullying and lowering self-esteem of our children.

Musical:ly

This is a music app that allows children to record videos of themselves singing and upload them. This opens up public commenting.

Say.at.me

This app encourages users to create a poll or vote. This can lead to lowering self-esteem, rude or offensive comments, and is public.

Yellow

This has been called ‘tinder for teens’ it is a friendship app that you swipe left and right on. This can impact on wellbeing, self- esteem and open up a forum to talk with strangers.

Parent Support Apps

There are parent support apps which can be used to monitor your child’s activity online and on phones, however it is important to think about the impact these may have on the trust between you and your child.

• MM Guardian
• Funamo Parent Control
• APP Lock

Student Voice – Anti Bullying Week

In Reception, we talked about what bullying is and how it can make us feel. We also talked about what it means to be good friends and to be nice to each other to make us feel happy and safe in school. We made posters to show it’s okay to be different. Malakai in Reception said “I like painting my hands. We are different.”

In Year 1 and 2, we made a friendship wreath out of our handprints, we made individual bricks for a wall to show that we are all equal but different. We saw the effects of bullying on Bruce the Koala’s heart, it showed us that bullying makes us feel sad, so we said nice things to make him feel better. Delai Ryan in Year 2 said “I liked the colouring hand activity because we got to write lovely things about other people.”

In Year 3 and 4, we learnt about the four different types of bullying; verbal, physical, cyber and emotional. We learnt that we are all important and that we are individuals and that it is okay to be different and unique. We made mirrors to reflect our differences and individuality and to celebrate and encourage others to be individuals too. Lotte Rattray in Year 3 said “My favourite activity was making the mirror because I enjoyed sharing my hobbies with others.”

In Year 5 and 6, we had a workshop with John Khan who was from the Anti-Bullying team in East Sussex, where we learnt about the different types of bullying. We found out that being different is good and we celebrated our individuality through our artwork. We learnt about empathy and online safety. Teddy Wren in Year 5 said “I enjoyed learning about empathy because it is a way of showing how we are all different and see things differently.”

Sycamore had an exciting Monday afternoon this week as a paramedic and volunteers from St John’s Ambulance came in to teach them how to perform CPR. They discussed the importance of knowing which number to call in an emergency and that they must always keep themselves safe in any situation, before helping others. The children learnt how to put someone in the recovery position and ensure their airways remain open. They then learnt how to do chest compressions – accompanied by some lovely singing of either ‘Nelly the Elephant’, ‘Uptown Funk’ or ‘Stayin’ Alive’! This was a great experience for the children to begin to learn a really important life-skill.

A huge thank you to the British Heart Foundation for including us in their campaign ‘Restart a Heart’ and coming in to teach us!

This week, the children spent an assembly time sharing their progress and learning from the term with a friend in a different year group. The children and staff discussed what makes a good learner, referring to the school vision, ‘Independent Me’ and the Golden Rules. The children brought a book to the assembly and shared it with their partner, asking questions such as ‘Where have you made progress?’, ‘What have you learned?’ and ‘How did the teacher’s marking help you?’

The assembly was a great opportunity for the children to, not only celebrate successes, but also to identify the progress they have made this term. It was wonderful to see the children’s excitement and pride in their learning, as well as their joy in sharing in their friend’s success. Well done everybody for a great term of learning!

On Tuesday 10th October we held our Harvest Festival Assembly. Well done to all the children for their hard work in the performances. Also, a big thank you to everyone who made a donation of food. All the food that was collected has been taken to the Hailsham food bank.

On Tuesday, Oak Class enjoyed a visit from Jaws and Claws, as part of their learning journey, ‘Jaws, Claws and Whiskers’. Phil came with a whole range of his wonderful creatures and the children loved learning about the different creatures. We saw a large cockroach, a huge snail, two snakes, a bearded dragon, a blue frog and a massive turtle! There was also a tenrec, which looked like a hedgehog but is actually part of the elephant family!

Many of us were very excited to hold and touch the creatures and some of us became braver as the session went on. It was fun to find out the names of the creatures and to ask questions about what they ate and how they moved.

On Wednesday morning, Oak Class had a lovely time exploring the school field and wooded area. We took buckets and went on an Autumn treasure hunt! There were so many wonderful treasures to be found! The children were using their listening skills to listen to instructions and work together. They used so many great describing words when looking at the conkers, acorns and leaves. We were enjoying ourselves so much that we almost forgot to go back for break time! All of our Autumn objects are now in the outside area so that we can use them for our activities and we have already used them for counting and number work.

On Friday 29th September, Sycamore organised and ran a coffee morning to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Trust. They wrote letters inviting members of the community and their family and friends to join them. Each child had a job that they were responsible for, for 45 minutes of the morning and they did a fantastic job. When they weren’t ‘working’, the children enjoyed eating cake with their families! We  raised a huge £274.24 so thank you so much for your cakes, donations and support. The children worked so hard and really enjoyed organising it!

On Friday 22nd September, we held a ‘British Values Day’ to promote our core values and enjoy learning about them.

It was great to see so many people dressed in red, white and blue clothing!

The children enjoyed working in their mixed aged house teams and visiting different classes to learn about the values. Each teacher concentrated on a different theme and planned an activity to develop understanding of tolerance, respect, rule of law and democracy. Everyone really enjoyed sharing their learning in the celebration assembly at the end of the day to parents and carers.

A huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who entered the ‘Great Chiddingly British Bake Off’! The cakes that were produced were so impressive and many had a red, white and blue theme.

A big thank you to all of our pupil governors for judging the competition and to the parents who helped set up the bake sale after school. We managed to raise an amazing £102!

On Sunday 16th July some children from Sycamore class took part in the Uckfield’s Wacky Races.

Links to the articles can be seen below:

www.itv.com/news/meridian/update/2017-07-16/uckfield-whacky-races-has-green-clean-message

uckfieldnews.com/holy-cross-wins-uckfield-grand-prix-team-pictures

Beech Class had a wonderful time at Michelham Priory last week, where they took part in a day filled with Stone Age activities! They started the day by travelling back in time and visiting a Bronze Age round house, and had lots of fun pretending to hunt and gather their own food. Next they looked at some Stone Age artefacts and practiced spear throwing! They also made ‘bone necklaces’ using wooden beads, and clay pots with unique patterns. A brilliant day was had by all, and Beech Class were fantastic representatives of Chiddingly School!

We held our annual sports day on Thursday 6th July and it was a fantastic morning! The children were incredibly supportive of each other and worked really hard to try their best!

Well done to the Buckingham Palace house team for winning the overall day!

“The events were: skipping, javelin, sack race, bean bag and the hurdles. The sportsmanship trophy was given to Lilian Pollard.” – Lottie H and Helbert S

“The first event that we did was the sack race held by Miss Axell. The next event was the bean bag race held by Mrs Winchester, then the skipping with Mrs Mackarness.” – Chloe C

On Wednesday, Rion Pierre, the GB sprinter came to East Hoathly and Chiddingly to talk to the children. He spent time with the whole school and then worked with each class for a workshop. The theme of the day was to develop the children’s ‘Growth Mindset’ to follow their ambitions and dreams.

Rion talked about his journey from being an everyday boy growing up in Jamaica and then London, before developing a love for football. He practised so hard to become the best he could and worked his way up to playing for the Chelsea youth football team. Unfortunately a major injury put paid to his football career, but as part of his rehabilitation he discovered a talent for sprinting which led to his new found career.

As Rion walked into our school hall, he was really impressed to see our ‘Growth Mindset’ display and continued to explain to the children how the only way to succeed in something is to have a positive, resilient outlook and to never give up.

All classes enjoyed their workshops and managed to ask our visitor lots of questions. The children were all hugely inspired by Rion and have continued to discuss his Growth Mindset and how they can emulate this outlook in their own futures.

We are really grateful to the PFCS for covering the cost of this worthwhile event and many thanks to Rion for coming to Chiddingly.

The Year 6s had a fantastic morning last Friday at Safety in Action at Bowles Outdoor Centre. There were 9 activities for them to rotate round; each one focused on a different area of safety. The children were split into two groups and were given a score out of 20 for each activity. The activities included making a 999 call to report a fire; using ‘beer goggles’ to see the effects of alcohol; rescuing someone from a lake or river; doing CPR and identifying dangers on a farm. The children also did an exercise
on ‘Stranger Danger’ which they learnt a lot from as both groups failed this exercise and all spoke to someone who was pretending to be a stranger! The children were fantastically behaved and gave some brilliant answers to the questions they were asked.

Well done, Year 6! You represented our school so well and put all your effort into each activity!

Awe and Wonder day took place on Wednesday 24th May 2017. All the children were in mixed year group teams and rotated around a carousel of activities. The theme was ‘Safety’. It included the children reflecting on their safe place and constructing their own safe place. We had RNLI visit us in the morning and then PC Jackie with us in the afternoon talking about how to get help from emergency services. The day ended with a brilliant celebration in the hall. All the children sang a song about safety and different children spoke about their learning. It was a great day, enjoyed by all and it gave us all time to reflect and think about the world. Thank you to all the parent volunteers for helping us and for those who attended the celebration.

On Tuesday 16th May, we went to Sussex Downs Leisure Centre and played a 7-a-side football tournament against 6 other teams. We were a joint team with East Hoathly – the Pioneer dream team! We only conceded one goal and drew all the others of our matches. Lottie played midfield and up front for some matches, Jorin played in defence, Jack was a striker and up front, Lil played in defence and Georg was up front and a midfielder. We all took turns at playing in the matches and being a substitute. We got on really well with the East Hoathly children and played as a great team. Lottie: I really enjoyed my day because we worked really well as a team and we played tactically throughout. Jorin: I enjoyed playing football! I don’t usually play so it was nice to be given the opportunity to!

Jack: I really enjoyed playing football all morning. I took a shot from the halfway line and it nearly went in, but hit the crossbar!

Lil: I really enjoyed my day because I got to take the throw-ins which I’m really good at!

Georg: It was great fun to play in the tournament because it was nice to play against other teams and with the East Hoathly team.

Written by Lottie, Jack, Lil, Georg and Jorin

Sycamore class decided we wanted to create clay models to sell at the market. On Monday 15th May, we split into groups of 5 or 6 and assigned job roles – the team manager, market researchers, product designers and financial advisors. We also created portfolios to store all our work in and did a daily write up of our work so we could see the progress we had made with our project. We brainstormed, researched, designed, made, painted and decorated throughout the week, in preparation for the big market on Friday!

For the market, some of us decided to sell our items through games such as lucky dips or guess the number games, which worked really well and helped us get lots of customers! We raised an incredible £79.45 so thank you all for your generosity at our stalls!

Quinn said, “Enterprise week was really good fun, because we got to make our own designs and I enjoyed working as a team! Also, having plenty of time to research and plan helped a lot!” Amy F said, “I enjoyed last week because when we were selling our products, I couldn’t believe how many people came to our market and I feel proud of how well we did!”

As a whole school we raised an incredible £176! Thank you to all for your donations!

Last Thursday, Oak Class went on a trip to Plumpton. Thanks to Miss Pitt for providing
some lovely photos of the day!

On Thursday 27th January, we had a visit from the Open Book group in our assembly.

Kye said the assembly was really fun! Amy explained that they were told a story about Jesus healing people and some of Sycamore even got involved!

Well done to all the children for putting on two brilliant performances on Thursday! All the children looked fantastic and it really showed how much they had enjoyed putting the performance together.

Also a big thank you to the PFCS for serving refreshments and arranging photographs of the performance!

Well done to all the children involved in singing with the Federation Choir on Friday evening at the Late Night Shopping Event in Uckfield.

The children sang beautifully with lots of smiles and thoroughly entertained the packed audience.

All the staff were incredibly proud of the children’s behaviour and voices. Well done!

If you would like to listen to the children sing, please visit: http://www.uckfieldfm.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/East-Hoathly-Chiddingly-Primary-

On Friday 18th November, children from years 4, 5 and 6 went to Ringmer School to take part in a Cross Country race against 8 other schools, including children from East Hoathly.

The race was 1.6km long and, even though it was cold and the ground was very muddy, the children were all fantastic.

They were all incredibly well behaved and listened well to the instructions. They were great team sports and encouraged each other during the race.

The results are listed below – a special well done to Lottie Evershed who came second out of all the girls! Huge well done, also, to Seth Taylor and Edward champion for showing fantastic growth mindset in never giving up.

Well done, Chiddingly! Great team effort!

On Thursday 10th November, Sycamore class had a Victorian day when they dressed up and took part in a typical Victorian style school day. Their lessons included learning the ‘Three Rs – Reading, Writing and Arithmetic’ which were mostly learnt through rote – repeating things over and over again! If an answer was given incorrectly, or a teacher thought a pupil was being rude, they were severely told off and sent to the corner to face the wall. In extreme circumstances, children had to wear the Dunce’s cap to make sure everyone knew they had been foolish – Jorin even had to wear it to assembly!

The boys and girls had to sit separately and took part in different lessons as the Victorians believed different skills were needed for boys and girls. The girls practiced their needlework skills and the boys did technical drawing. They had to work in silence at all times and absolutely no questions were permitted!

By lunchtime, Sycamore class were asking if they could please go back to school in 2016 as being a child in Victorian times was not as fun as they initially thought!

Thank you to parents for their support in the dressing up – the children looked amazing!
Huge well done to Sycamore children for their enthusiasm in taking part in all the activities and making the day full of giggles!

On Tuesday 24^th May 2016 we held a very exciting Awe and Wonder day with the theme of ‘Our World’. The idea of this day was to allow children to be reflective and have time to express their thoughts and feelings about the world that we live in. The children spent the day in mixed age groups with children from Reception to Year 6 together. Activities for the day included making a giant mosaic of the world, forest school activities, growing area activities, singing and felting. We were very fortunate to have visitors from the community, parents and carers who came to school and shared experiences with us. A huge thank you to all of those who volunteered!

Last week, Sycamore did a fantastic job of hosting a coffee morning to raise money for MacMillan Cancer support. They wrote brilliant letters inviting their friends, family and residents of Chiddingly Village to join them for coffee and cake to help them raise as much money as possible.
Thanks to the amazing support of all their families, friends and local residents, they raised an enormous £383.50!!
A huge thank you to everyone who brought in cakes, helped to organise the hall and serve drinks, or came to support the children – it was a great success! A BIG well done to Sycamore class for being such wonderfully attentive hosts and for all your hard work during the morning – we are all very proud of you!

Today we have had the most fantastic celebration day to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s 90th Birthday! During the morning, each class spent time creating their own place mats for our street party and also taking part in other activities such as writing letters and designing birthday cards for the Queen, researching facts about the Royal Family and making crowns.

At lunchtime, we enjoyed a fantastic street party with a sit down lunch outside for the whole school! We were very lucky to have Nus Ghani MP visit us. She helped the School Council to judge the ‘Chiddingly Bake Off’ and decide who the overall winners were for each category. We then sang a range of our songs to her, including the National Anthem, which sounded absolutely beautiful! Nus then answered lots of the children’s questions and said how much she had enjoyed her visit.

Many thanks to Emma Waterman and Emma Webb for spending their morning setting up for the street party and making our outside area look so decorative. Thanks also to Mark Coleman for putting up the bunting!

We started Term 2 with a flurry of colours, arts and culture with each class ‘travelling’ around the world to look at and explore different cultures. During PE all classes explored traditional music from their country’s culture, creating dances and freeze frames.

Reception enjoyed discovering the Story of ‘Rama and Sita’ and understanding the celebration of Diwali, by making Divali lamps and acting out the story.

Year 1 and 2 flew to Mexico where they tasted different Mexican foods such as Nachos, dips and salsas. They then used pastels to draw Mexican artefacts.

Year 3 and 4 learnt about Anansi traditional folktales from Africa. They made shadow puppets and performed using these in a shadow theatre. The children also looked at the meanings of African masks and created their own.

Year 5 and 6 learnt about New Zealand through the story ‘Granny joined the All Blacks’. They learnt the Hakka, made mala masks and wrote their own stories.

We had a fantastic finish to our week when we spent the day with our Federation friends taking part in different workshops. All of the children were mixed up into six different groups with children from both Chiddingly and East Hoathly across all year groups.

The children enjoyed workshops where they learnt, Chinese writing, Spanish songs and World War 1 songs. They also took part in African Drumming with Cheikh from ‘Africa Arts Company’ and Greek Drama with Mr Jonson. The children then created ‘Natural Art’ in groups using objects found on the playground.

All the children and staff had a fantastic day and it was lovely to see so many parents celebrating with us at the end of the day.

Thank you to all the parents from East Hoathly for helping to transport the children to Chiddingly.

On Tuesday 13th October, Year 5 & 6 children from Chiddingly and East Hoathly schools visited Cuckmere Haven for some team building activities; wet and wild kayaking, tricky and challenging team building games and explorative orienteering. They had a fantastic day!

Chiddingly and East Hoathly Reception classes went to Plumpton College to see the baby animals for their ‘New Life’ project.

The Years 5 and 6 school choir, led by choir mistress Mrs Ellie White, were invited to Chiddingly village shop to sing Christmas carols and other songs from the school nativity performance. Their acapella singing was very well received and many of the parents and villagers joined in with the singing. Mince pies and other refreshments were served afterwards by Caroline, the shop manageress.

Pupils from Chiddingly had a display of their autumn pictures in the village community shop (Sept/Oct 2014).