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This week, in our Collective Worship, we visited the Churchyard war memorial.

“Some children wrote prayers and poems to remember the soldiers who died in the wars. We all placed crosses in the ground around the statue outside the church. Then we held a one minute silence to honour the soldiers and the sacrifice they made to make the world a better place” Amelia, Lilac Class.

On Wednesday 10th July Maple Class had a pirate day were they made treasure maps and hid treasure for their friends to find!

They made sure to mark the spot with a golden X and used their best phonics to leave a written clue on paper they had much fun dying with tea first!

Maple Class sang sea shanties, playing a variety of musical instruments to accompany the singing. We played some great party games and shared a special snack too!

On Tuesday 25th June, Cherry Class visited Lewes Castle to enhance their history learning and to help answer their topic question:

“Do you need a castle to conquer?”

They began the visit by watching a film to learn about Lewes through the ages, then visited the museum to see artefacts, some of which included Anglo Saxon spearheads that might have been similar to the ones used in the Battle of Hastings!

The children then had a tour of the 900 year old castle with a guide who showed them the different parts of the castle and shared lots of interesting facts about it.

They learned that Lewes Castle is a ‘motte and bailey’ castle. Motte is the French word for a big mound of mud and they were lucky enough to walk up the steps to the top of the motte. When the castle was built, there was likely a small rope ladder to climb up which would have been used to protect the motte because an enemy who tried to climb up it would surely have been knocked back down by the people above.

On the motte was the keep that would originally have been built out of wood and later in stone, in order for it to be as strong and as protective as possible. The keep was built to be a very safe place where you would be able to see enemies approaching for miles. Being so high also meant that you could attack the enemy from above. In the event of an attack, you would be protected and self-sufficient because animals were reared there, vegetables were grown and there was even a well reaching down to the sea.

That meant the people would be able to live happily and safely.

Cherry Class went into the keep and saw the guard room. When the guards saw an enemy approaching they would shout ‘Enemy approaching!’ to alert others. The guard room had no windows, only arrow slits. The reason for this was that arrows could be shot out but arrows couldn’t easily get in.

Later they walked to the castle entrance near the Barbican. The Barbican was the outer defence that could cut off the enemy by using a portcullis. The portcullis was particularly useful to pull down for protection and to poke the enemies with spears! The children were so impressed to see sword and axe marks still visible on the surrounding walls!

To finish off a great day they got to try on medieval clothes inside the Barbican and act out different scenarios!

Cherry Class had a great time learning all about Lewes Castle and the children recalled lots of facts learned from school and made great links to their learning.

On Thursday 27th June, our Year 6 went to Crowborough for the Diocese of Chichester Leavers’ Service.

Noah has kindly written up the event for our Newsletter:

We left lovely Lilac and went in our Mum’s and Dad’s cars to be dropped at The Green, a field just outside the church with sparsely placed trees. We all met up together and had lunch.
Twenty minutes later we went into the breath taking church. Once we were settled, the parade started with Noah holding the candle and Finlay and Jared holding the school banner. On making it to the front we were welcomed by the Bishop and placed the items to their designated places before sitting back down ready for the service to begin.

Children from East Hoathly started us off with a prayer and a reading, following which we sang and had a very fun talk from the Bishop about peace. There were several songs and it was interesting that different schools knew different versions of the same ones!

The service finished with a procession walking back through the church which included Noah, Finlay and Jared and on leaving the church Mrs Mandy gave us all bibles, took a picture and then we went home.

On 25th June 2024, Maple Class had a wonderful time at the Briars! They enjoyed pond dipping, walking to Pooh Bridge, looking for different plants, footprints and animals on route, and a walk through the woodland and the wildflower meadow. Mrs Rowberry began by explaining what sorts of animals, insects and pond creatures we were likely to see and the children were fascinated and excited to start.

The pond dipping was incredible! The children had small nets to dip into the pond and they were encouraged to gently shake their nets to release anything that they had found. They saw some amazing things, using microscopes to help them spot small details. They found newts (both an adult and a baby), mayfly and midge larvae, water boatmen, pond skaters, blood-worms and dragon fly larvae. The plants were also amazing with waterlilies and pond weed, as well as a whole host of other plants supporting the pond life.

On the walk to Pooh Bridge, the class spotted a wide array of plants and insects, as well as some gorgeous horses. The children worked hard to spot different footprints in the mud and created some of their own. Once there, they wrote some small notes for Pooh Bear and posted them in the box!

After collecting some little sticks, they had a game of ‘Pooh Sticks’ throwing them over one side of the bridge to see which one travelled the most quickly to the other.

It was then time for a special mini-beast peek turning over sections of big trees and discovering lots and lots of wonderful mini-beasts! Maple Class learned about how careful they needed to be with all of the creatures and plants around them and they watched as the creatures tried hard to keep out of the light.

Setting off back through the woods, Mrs Rowberry had made some little traps to catch insects in and the children were able to see beetles and woodlice close up. In the meadow, they used nets to sweep along and see if they could find any creatures in the long grass.

After a lovely picnic lunch, the class headed back to school. It was a long walk but they enjoyed listening out for the birds and spotting familiar things in the landscape.

Happily, the children noticed the church spire from a long way away which helped them to find their way back to school!

On Wednesday 26th June, Year 5/6 from East Hoathly joined Lilac Class for a Hands on History Viking Day.

Riley and Beau have kindly shared their experience of the event:

“St Mary’s and East Hoathly joined together to meet two helpers who were teaching them about the Vikings. In groups the children learnt about different equipment the Vikings used and later in the day we had to remember the names when we went around the hall labelling the equipment in a Viking language!

We learnt that the Vikings (which means pirate) invaded Britain for the farmland and they were quite gruesome.

We had chance to act out a Viking battle on the playground using shields and swords!

My favourite bit of the whole day was going out onto the field to watch the arrows being shot.

Today was really fun and special, especially when they dressed us up in Viking clothes.”

Well done Lilac Class for hosting your peers from East Hoathly.

Last Friday, following much work by our Pupil Governors, the school took part in a fun run and bake sale to raise money for the animal shelter at Raystede.

Mid week, we had an assembly run by a Raystede volunteer to give information about the charity and the children were excited to know where their money would be sent. Thank you to all who supported the day.

On Thursday 13th June, Year 6 had the opportunity to join Safety in Action at Bowles outdoor centre. Safety in Action is a local initiative, coordinated by East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service which brings emergency services and community agencies, set up to encourage children to recognise hazards within day to day life and to take action to keep themselves safe.

Thankfully Finlay, Chloe and Will have been our reporters for the trip:

“On Thursday 13th the Year 6 students travelled to Bowles outdoor activity centre for their ‘Safety in Action’ session.

We were taught about safety at train stations (never go on the rail tracks), internet safety, fire safety (how to call a fire engine), road safety (stop, look, listen, think), water safety (how to save a drowning person), environmental safety (where not to light fires and what to do if you find suspicious debris in the woods), alcohol safety (how to measure alcohol) and electrical safety (need to stay away from wires ). We learnt how to do CPR, how to save a drowning person and how to be responsible around electricity.

It was extremely fun, especially testing the ’drunk’ goggles! I laughed so many times when we were there.

As a group we all found it very helpful for later life, especially the road safety for when we will be walking to our new secondary schools.”

It looked like so much effort had been put into the session and we really appreciated everything they did to make this possible. and were very grateful for all their help and information.

Moving forward, the team providing the Safety in Action event would like to everyone to use and promote further learning by using the Staywise website.

www.staywise.co.uk is a free online library of educational resources and activities from the UK’s leading emergency services and safety-focused organisations making it easy for you to find trusted materials that provide learning opportunities to help keep children safe.
Please encourage your children, to visit ‘Staywise’ to help reinforce key safety messages learned at Safety in Action.

At the beginning of this term, Lilac Class took a trip to the Imperial War Museum, spent the night aboard HMS Belfast then took in some of the London sights.

Chloe and Scarlett each wrote an amazing thank you letter for the trip which have been adapted for our Newsletter:

“Staying on HMS Belfast was so fun and interesting. The whole class loved it. The beds didn’t look the cosiest but when they were set up they were so comfy!

Learning about the massive 178m HMS Belfast was so cool, as was learning about the hammocks and the rest of history. It’s weird knowing they used to have hammocks and now we have comfy beds.

At night the girls could hear the boat making noises (we chatted over it though!) When I woke up it took me a while to remember where I was, then we all helped each other pack up sleeping bags before going to breakfast, which was delicious—toast and orange juice for me! I can tell others liked the breakfast because they ate a lot of it really quickly.

After breakfast we had a tour and while my favourite part was the cells I would’ve hated to sleep on the wooden prison beds, it really hurt my head when I laid down. I loved the lessons that we had because some of us got to try on the old outfits that people used to wear and have a go in a hammock! We also got to try the captain’s chair and overlook London which was super enjoyable especially when we saw a seal swim by in the river.

Making mugs was so cool, writing my nickname on he flags and drawing seaweed because we were on the water.

We then took a tour around London, including going on Tower Bridge and seeing Beefeaters. The bridge looks really tall but when you are on it, it doesn’t feel that high up and the views were spectacular.

When we got back to HMS Belfast to collect our stuff one of the volunteers told us about another ship he had sailed on in America.

It was sad having to leave the ship and I appreciated the day very much”

As part of our topic, ‘How does it grow?’ Maple Class were lucky enough to visit Hodore Farm in Upper Hartfield, close to our school. They began by sharing ideas about what happens on a farm and had pictures of crops, animals and machinery, talking to their learning partners about the different purposes of each.

They went to see some of the different machines that can be found at the farm, having an opportunity to sit on a ‘Gator’ and a loader and taking it in turns to sit behind the wheels!

Behind the vehicles, they noticed a huge pile of woodchips and found out that these are taken to Pembury Hospital (where lots of the children in Maple Class were born!) to be used to keep the hospital warm.

The children walked to the fields to see a variety of crops growing. Emma, our visit leader and farmer, dug up a bean plant and a wheat plant giving an opportunity to see how different the leaves, stems and roots are. The wheat stem is much longer and stronger but the roots are much shallower, despite the fact that it was planted much earlier than the beans. Whilst looking at the crops, they talked about what they had eaten for breakfast and thought about the crops that might have been used to make this. The children had eaten toast, hoops, croissants and porridge, as well as lots of different types of fruit.

Next, Maple Class started a fantastic experiment. They planted some pants! The pants are made of cotton and they decided to plant one pair in a field and another in the woods, carefully placing them in holes and covering them over. After a few weeks they will then dig them up and see what has happened. Emma taught the children a new word, ‘decompose’ and they are going to see if the pants begin to decompose over time and compare the rate of decomposition in the field and the woods.

As part of our learning about soil, the children had an opportunity to look very closely at what was in the soil using magnifying glasses. They found so many different creatures!

The children also had a chance to look closely at pond water in shallow white trays so that it was easy to spot things, identifying mayfly nymphs and water boatman amongst others. They also noticed that the leaves in the pond had darkened and begun to decompose and that there was lots of algae and pondweed to look at.

The children had the opportunity to play fantastic games too! They had pollen cards and had to travel to human trees and circle them, waggling their bodies, just as bees do when they have pollen to spread. They learned that this passes on messages between bees! They also played ‘you know you are wild if’ and had to listen carefully to the instructions that Emma gave as they travelled down to the woods for our picnic. Finally, Maple Class walked back to school along the Forest Way where it was wonderful to see the lambs and sheep grazing, and to find lots of puddles to jump in!

On Friday 24th May we held our May Festival on The Croft. Thank you to everyone who supported this event and well done to all of our classes for their fabulous dancing.

Willow Class were so relieved that after all of the rain at the weekend, Wednesday was bathed in glorious sunshine ready for their trip.

They began the day with Paula, the Wildlife Ranger, discussing the importance of the habitat that Ashdown Forest provides for a diverse range of creatures and the interdependence of the food webs and chains that create a delicate balance for the eco system there.

As they set off on their walk, the dew made the funnel spider webs glisten, so some of the children tried to see if they could tempt any out of their burrows by gently tapping the webs with a blade of grass!

As they walked through the forest they were allowed to collect tiny samples of grasses, leaves and petals to show what a diverse range of colours exist in nature. The children were very aware and only took pieces of plants that were the size of a ‘caterpillars nibble’.

They played several games throughout the day that illustrated the way in which insects and animals reply on their habitats to live and thrive.

They were lucky enough to see a red kite, and some of the children passed an adder enjoying the sunshine amongst the heather.

One of the favourite parts of the day was exploring the woodlands using a mirror to find parts of the forest that they don’t normally see. The children enjoyed this birds eye view of the canopy and finding the dark and shady corners for insects to hide in.

At the end of the day the children designed their own creature that would be able to live in a world where the environment is constantly changing. Many of the children wanted to create an animal that was able to eat plastic to help clean up the oceans and landscape!

Thank you to all of the parents who helped with the transport so that we could keep this trip at zero cost.

Cherry class had a brilliant and informative day out at Hodore Farm and Sawpit Wood on Tuesday. They enjoyed a gloriously sunny walk from school where they met Em, Gavin and Elizabeth.

Gavin and Elizabeth look after the sheep on the farm and the children had the opportunity to ask them questions about sheep farming.
On the farm there are currently around 85 ewes and 140 lambs. The children learnt that the ewes eat grass to get their nutrients, but they are also fed nutrient rich foods before lambing to make sure they have enough goodness in their milk to help the new lambs grow.

When the sheep on the farm get to around 40kg in weight, they are sold to a local company who turn them into lamb or mutton for shops to sell.

As Cherry Class continued their journey into the woods, they summarised that farming is about growing food and looking after animals like lambs and sheep. This led us on to think about what other places animals like to live….This links in with the with our current science learning and we were able to talk about the need for a habitat to be a shady, damp shelter with food for woodland creatures.

The children played a fun game where they were shown a creature and had to decide whether its’ habitat was a meadow, a pond or a woodland. At times they had to think very carefully. For example a dragonfly begins its life as a nymph living in a pond habitat, but when it changes into a dragonfly it might live in a meadow habitat.

Later they paired up to go on a creature hunt, remembering to be respectful of all habitats and to return the creatures where we found them.

When we gathered back together, we counted up the range of creatures we found as a whole class and tried to identify the creatures using picture cards and descriptions.

Here is what we found:

Creature	Number found
beetles	6
millipede	4
spider	2
woodlice	4
worm	12
snail	4
caterpillar	1
Grub/larvae	2

After lunch around the fire pit, they discussed the importance of soil.

Did you know that there are more living things in a tablespoon of soil than there are people on earth?

To help understand the amount of living things in soil, they planned an experiment with a pair of cotton pants and asked: What is going to happen to the cotton pants if we bury them?

These were some of the predictions:

Lois: ‘They might break.’
Isaac: ‘The insects might make a hole.’
Tuppence: ‘They might disintegrate.’

To find out they decided to bury some cotton pants in the woodland and also in an open field and will dig them up later in the year to find out what happens.

As we walked around the crop fields, we learned about two types of crop that was growing on the farm. The first to be planted in September, was the wheat. This would be used in foods such as bread, pasta and cereals. The second crop that was just beginning to grow was the spring bean. These are planted in spring and when harvested they are fed to animals to give them protein.

At the end of the visit the children got to look at, and sit in three types of farm machinery and met two of the farmers Bill and Charlie who were kind enough to answer some questions about the tractors.

Cherry class had a wonderful visit to Hodore Farm and Sawpit Woods. They enjoyed a hands on day of learning all about life on the farm and in the woods and they look forward to applying this knowledge to their classroom learning.

As part of their topic ‘Once Upon a Time, Maple Class were lucky enough to visit Hever Castle in the last week of term 4! The children were so excited to visit a real castle and find out more about how it was built and who had lived there.

They travelled to Hever Castle by minibus and enjoyed looking out for familiar landmarks and signs of Spring on the journey. The children had looked at the route that was taken before leaving using google maps and had talked about where they all lived in relation to the route that they would take.

After arriving, they found a lovely place for lunch and enjoyed talking about our surroundings as we ate. The children enjoyed looking at the topiary and the shapes of some of the bushes.

On the way to the castle, they enjoyed feeding the ducks and the fish. They were very hungry!

Finally they arrived at the castle and saw the moat with the drawbridge and spotted the portcullis.

The children were interested in the fact that it was made out of wood and talked about some of the other materials they could see:
glass windows, tiled roof, stone walls, wooden beams.

Maple Class also visited the maze eventually finding their way to the middle and each other! They enjoyed looking at the extensive gardens and smelling some of the flowers. The hyacinths smelled gorgeous!

To end their day, they walked to the playgrounds and had the most wonderful time!

The children have spent the week reflecting on and our amended Vision and the values which underpin this.

They prepared a 3D Art representation of our Vision, then in houses planned how they could present each Value to rest of the school and wider community, through our collective church service on Friday.

Rev Julie pulled the service together gathering and connecting varying members of our community, highlighting that each of us brings something to the community.

We all have different strengths and collectively that strength is stronger than the sum of the component parts.

If we garner that collective strength, through love and faith, the distance we can cover grows and our community is allowed to flourish.

This week is British Science week and Maple Class have been experimenting with time and light!

To investigate time and light, Maple Class began by looking at St Mary’s Clock where the children noticed that the numbers were “different” and they talked about the fact that the numerals were Roman.

On returning to the classroom, they looked at a conventional clock face and talked about the role of the long and the short hands. The children talked about the different clocks and watches their parents used. Some of them have their own clocks, including rabbit and candy clocks!

To gauge length of time, they then experimented with timers, jumping up and down for a whole minute and breathing deeply for 30 seconds, to recover!

To help think about the relationship between light and time, they created pictures. The children chose lots of flat shapes to tape on to their pieces of paper, arranging them as they wished. They thought about the way that the shapes would block the light from getting to the paper and the effect that this would have and talked about having to expose the pictures to the light and the fact that they would have to wait a long time before they take the shapes off. Some of them made a connection with how long it is taking for their recycled paper to dry out.

Skye: “I am trying to block the light from it.”
Rosie: “So, the shape might protect it and there will be a gap there.”
Charlie: “It is going to go in there, and not in there.”
Sid: “I didn’t cover these holes up so they will have the light.”
Clemmie: “It’s going to take a very long time! We will have to be patient.”
Iris: “I am going to have loads of dark bits on mine.”
Florence: “I am stopping the light. It will be dark here.”

Maple Class enjoyed talking about shadows and when they had observed them. The children had lots of ideas to share:

Rosie: “I did it with my nanny. We made scare shadows!”
Florence: “In the sun, when it is sunny, you walk and your shadow is under your feet.”
Sid: “I make shadows with my torch and my guinea with lights.”
Skye: “Shadows go away when it is dark. They need the light.”
Zach: “You can make shadows of yourself, they get bigger and smaller.”

They created a shadow theatre with a sheet and a lamp using shadow puppets to create a story. Initially, the story was told by an adult but then some of the children also wanted to have a go and continued the story on!

They then went up to the playground to experiment with making shadows with their bodies. Unfortunately it was raining and very dull but they still managed to create lots of different shadow shapes!

And then into church where they experimented with creating shadows in a very different level of light.

The whole school has joined in Children’s Mental Health week.

Maple Class began the week by playing a game of ‘Fruit Salad.’ with the children taking turns to call out different cues, such as ‘change places if you like dogs’ or ‘change places if you are looking forward to our fire station trip tomorrow.’ We talked about the fact that we had lots of things in common but there are also had lots of differences between us.

They talked about the different mood monsters and how they might be feeling if they were ‘yellow’, ‘blue’, ‘red’ or ‘green.’

During the week, they have kept tabs on how they were feeling at different times of the day, using our ‘Zones across the Day’ tables.

They talked about the different things they do to help ‘get back to green’ and the children wrote speech bubbles about their best strategies!

Maple Class had the opportunity to share what they like (and don’t like) and to be heard. They learnt the Makaton sign for ‘Favourite’ and enjoyed the song ‘do you like it?’, speaking about how we all like different things but everyone’s ideas, thoughts and views matter.

With their year 6 buddies, they spent time sharing ‘what makes them proud’. Thank you Year 6 for helping your buddies realise that their thoughts and voice matter.

Cherry Class created wooden spoon people showing the range of emotions they might feel.

During mental health week Cherry Class also celebrated our WOW moments from the past week, for example the times when we have persevered to do something:

‘I was nervous about swimming but I persevered and now I am happy to go.’ – Tuppence

‘I persevered playing my violin, now I can play without stopping’ – Bella

Through discussions, they reflected on how they feel when they persevere and many of the class stated that we feel happy, excited and proud!

Cherry Class also tracked their mood across the day using the zones of regulation (see picture) we then spent time talking about what we can do to help us to get back into the ‘green’ zone which is the colour for optimum learning.

As the theme of the week was My Voice Matters, they also had a circle time discussing likes and dislikes and comparing them with our friend’s likes and dislikes. We came to realise that many of us don’t like the same things and that it’s ok for us to be different, but at the same time we can respect others’ feelings. In our teams we worked together to create a poster of our day and all the things we are proud of including the things that make us different.

Finally, we discussed what we might do if we are worried about something and introduced a worry box where we can write our worries if we feel like that is easier than talking about our worries.

Willow Class took on the main focus of the week and looked at just how much they agree with ‘My Voice Matters’.

Thank you to those willing to share their work and some of the things that make them proud.

Maple Class visited Forest Row Fire Station this week as part of their topic ‘Off We Go!’ They had a go at trying on the protective helmets and found out that there were different designs, depending on who is wearing them.

We watched the firemen dressing for the job. They were incredibly quick! It only took them 50 seconds!

They had a look at the fire engine, learning about all of the different equipment and what it was used for. They found out about heat scanners, hoses, cutting machinery, maps, breathing equipment and ladders. Each of the children had a go at climbing into the fire engine. It was very high up!

The children learned about how the engine carries water and about how to find a water supply when they are out on a job, by finding a yellow H. There was much excitement about using the hoses when they had a go at spraying the tower and the wall at the back of the fire station.

Cherry Class had a wonderful day out at Drusillas despite the drizzle. They explored the zoo together, soaked up some wonderful animal facts and stamped their booklets to record all the animals that they saw. They were all impressed with how many animals were up and active at this time of year.

One of their overall favourites were the penguins who were happily splashing about and putting on their own little show. The children also enjoyed the mischievous monkeys dashing around the trees and also the nosey meerkats ,who were busy digging and bobbing up and down.

In the afternoon they hopped on the train for a ride around the park before going into the discovery centre to learn lots about some more of the animals in the park.

They had the opportunity to touch a blue tongued skink lizard, whose scaly texture was very similar to that of a snake. Some of the braver ones touched a cockroach who had a very hard back and to their surprise, its head looked very much like an ant’s. The royal python was very friendly and enjoyed being stroked. Pear the rat, was a very wriggly one, and they had to be quick to get a stroke of her!

The star of the show was the hairy mammal with a shell…can you guess the mammal? It was Gretel the armadillo from South America. She was very beautiful and the children were all so amazed to get up so close to her.

Of course, before leaving the park they managed to squeeze in some time in the play area to let off some steam.

In all Cherry Class all had a wonderful day out and the children represented St Mary’s superbly with their ready, respectful and safe behaviour.

On Thursday 25th, Cherry Class were visited by Paula, one of the Education Team at the Ashdown Forest Centre, enhancing further the children’s scientific learning of what makes an animals unique? The class had the opportunity to come face to face with some of the animals of the forest, asking questions about the local wildlife and learning more about why these animals are unique.
Cherry Class also learnt about a really special bird, the Night Jar:

• it is a rare bird,
• that is nocturnal and
• makes its’ nest on the ground.

William volunteered to dress up as a Night Jar to help the others see the unique characteristics of this special bird.

To conclude, the class had a go at creating their own night jars using oil pastels.

We are really grateful to The Ashdown Forest Centre for providing this visit completely free of charge.

KS2 completed their nativity in church on Wednesday and a selection of comments have been taken from the descriptive report writing completed by Lilac Class on their return:

“the children are very happy with themselves with one quoting “I am feeling so positive about our morning performance today” I feel that the choir have beautiful, amazing singing voices and they definitely had the most claps from their songs”

“The day of the performance finally came. The children were stressed, the teachers were stressed, the church was filling with fear……Suddenly everyone was quiet……..The stage filled with voices singing beautifully. Everyone was smiling! The children were doing their best performance yet.”

“Did the children enjoy it? Yes, they said, they thoroughly enjoyed it; everyone had a good time! One member of Lilac said “It was really good and it made everyone laugh and stuff” A big thank you to all the parents and teachers who were also involved”

 

KS1 and reception completed their Nativity in church on Tuesday:

I felt happy on stage – Khaleesi
Being Joseph was the best bit! – Zenny
I felt happy because I loved doing the speaking part and singing the songs, that was my best part – Tuppence
I really liked singing We’re Hitting The Road- Finn
My favourite part was singing it’s Good News because that’s my favourite song and I liked to clip the clickers in We’re Hitting The Road – Ida
I felt nervous because there were lots of people and at the next show my mummy was there and I was happy! – Ellamy
I enjoyed having a speaking part – Scarlet
I was nervous because there were lots of people but I loved singing all the songs – Jacob

The children performed amazingly well and above are thoughts from some of the Cherry Class participants.
Well done to you all!

On Sunday 10th December, our school choir attended the Christmas Praise Service in church and we have the following from our two roving reporters for the day, Oliver and Amelia:

“Last Sunday we met in the church for the Christmas Praise Service. Abbie, Amelia, Beau, Noah and I (Oliver) represented the school with reading and the choir represented the school with singing.
We read bible verses about the birth of Jesus and sung Christmas songs. The most moving part was when all of the other people in the church joined in singing Silent Night with us but my favourite moment was when the choir sung We Wish you a Merry Christmas because this is my favourite song”

“The Christmas Praise Service went well and was fun. There were readings and singing and after, there were refreshments and snacks. It was a great experience”

Thank you and well done to you all; thank you to parents for supporting their children to the service; to Miss Katie for being there with the children, to Miss Rowberry for providing the music and teaching the choir and to Reverend Julie for inviting us.

The last word , however, goes to Oliver:

“I want to wish you all the best Christmas”

On Thursday, members of our new school choir went up to the Community Café in church to perform some Christmas songs to the patrons. It was delightful to see them fully engaged with the songs and their singing was beautiful. Thank you to Miss Rowberry who has taken the lead with this venture and is supporting them through the events of the season.

On Monday, the children got busy making Christingles ready for their collective worship on Wednesday.

Rev Julie and four fabulous church helpers came along to support the children and helped them learn the meaning behind their craft:

The Christingle – Represents Jesus as the light of the world

The Candle – Jesus

The Orange –  The world

The Red Ribbon – That Jesus died so that we can be saved

The Sweets and Currants – Arranged around the orange to represent God’s creation and the four seasons.

 

Our roving reporters this week, Noah and Isla were busy on Friday going around taking photographs of everybody and writing up about our day:

“On Friday, for Children in Need to fund raise we dressed up in yellow pyjamas or yellow clothing.

It was fun and everybody loved it.

We raised a whopping £59.90 so far and s an extra fun activity we coloured in Pudsey and did Bearpees (burpees but for children in need).

We really enjoyed it and we can’t wait to do it all again next year.

We had a brilliant day!”

Thank you to our wonderful pupil governors:

Alfred, Joseph, Isla, Noah, Freddie, Scarlett, Bella and Dylan for planning such a fun day to raise money for such a good cause.

Last Friday, Willow Class had the opportunity to attend a workshop based on the story ‘The Skip against Trouble’, by Eleanor Farjeon, set in Glynde and Mount Caburn in the South Downs.

We were visited by Nancy Cooley and Ashley Ramsden, a well know story teller from Forest Row who kept the children fascinated as they followed the story of Elsie Pudding who was ‘really good at skipping’ and the children than had chance to try out their own skipping skills!

To end the workshop, Lilac Class were invited to the hall to hear the story performed with Willow Class’ help.

A real treat for our KS2!

 

Thank you to everyone who supported our Remembrance Service.

Lilac Class really enjoyed their WW2 topic day on Thursday 9th November.

During the morning, they baked WWII spiced cookies which were delicious.

The children then learnt the Lambeth walk and created messages using Morse Code to send to each other.

In the afternoon, they used collage to create war medals and learnt about what each of the colours mean on the medal ribbons.

Well done Lilac Class for fully embracing the day and dressing up in their costumes.

Thank you to all of the parents for supporting this.

They all looked brilliant!

Willow Class had a fantastic trip to Hever Castle on Wednesday 1st November, as part of out topic ‘Why do we remember the Tudors?’

We began our day with a tour round the castle and discussed the many uses of The Great Hall, discovering where musicians would sit to entertain guests while they ate. We hadn’t realised that during the early years of the castle the Great Hall was used as a bedroom as well as a place to eat!

We were very lucky to see the prayer book that was used by Anne Boleyn in which she had made her own notes. It was amazing to see something so personal to a monarch that was over 500 years old.

Once we had been on our tour of the castle, we took part in a workshop where we learnt about the different statuses within Tudor society. We found out about the clothes that were worn, as well as the fabrics that each group could afford. We then used these skills to work out which class would have eaten what meal (the children were in general horrified by the idea of eating swan!)

We had the opportunity to try our hand at some Tudor games, but enjoyed dressing up in the clothes that a noble man or royalty would have worn most of all. We were not quite so excited by the clothing of servants and peasants!

The best part of the day by far was the children having time to play in Tudor Towers. We were also fortunate that the weather was kind to us and we were able to fully explore the play area.

The children’s behaviour throughout the day was fantastic and our guides were impressed with the knowledge the children had acquired about the Tudors and the range of questions that they asked.

Thank you to everyone in school who contributed to our MacMillan Bake Sale: creating posters and bunting; donating cake; selling cake, eating cake; encouraging others to achieve the above!

Together we raised a massive £124.75.

You are amazing and thank you!

We began the day by taking a photograph of our wonderful costumes! The children all took it in turns to talk about their costume to their friends at the front of the class.

We went on to the playground to play a pirate listening game. The children had to listen out for different commands (port, starboard, bow, stern, man overboard, sharks in the water, climbing the rigging) and respond accordingly. They got quite tired!

All of the children made a pirate map, painting their maps with tea and scrunching them up to look old. Then they marked different features on their map, ready to hide some treasure (marking their chosen treasure spot with an X).

A beautiful example of a precious flag.

The children had to follow the clues and find the treasure (a small chocolate treat for snack!)

We also enjoyed playing pirate musical bumps and making our own pirate flags (depicting things that are really important to us).

Yesterday, Year Six went to All Saints Church in Crowborough for their Leavers’ Service alongside some other Year Six classes from within the diocese. They started the afternoon with a picnic all together – luckily the rain held off, just!

During the service, they sang beautifully and Troy, Amelia, Megan and Kaya did a fantastic job reading prayers. They made us feel incredibly proud, as always, and the countdown to summer, is now officially on!

St Mary’s have been busy working with local potter, Debs Tompsett, to create a new art installation to go in the corridor to replace the cross that is currently there. Each child and staff member, along with regular volunteers and governors have each made and decorated a clay bird which Debs will cleverly install as a murmuration on the corridor wall, flying above the Ashdown Forest hills. Our values, Love, Strength and Faith, will also be painted around it, reflecting how St Mary’s work as a team to show these values to each other and our community. We are really grateful to St Mary’s Church for funding this project and look forward to be able to share pictures of the finished article with you! A huge thank you to Debs for her time and expertise in helping each of us make one of these birds – we are so glad to have been able to work with you on this.

On Wednesday, our Year 6 met at Bowles Outdoor Pursuits Centre to attend the Safety in Action project. This event is run by East Sussex Fire and Rescue, Sussex Police, Ambulance Service, Southern Rail and others, all working together to teach the children (thorough active participation) about safety and crime prevention.
As always, we were very proud of our pupils who engaged well and behaved impeccably! Well done, Year 6!

The children were, as always, absolute stars during our May Festival. They all worked so hard on learning and performing their dances we hoped you enjoyed the afternoon as much as we did.

Thank you to everyone who took part in the PTFA Bake Off competition.

We decided to write Positivity Postcards and post them around the community. We know that some people are finding things a bit tricky at the moment, so we thought about our question ‘How and why should we be nice to others selflessly?’ and thought this would be a great way to make people smile.

At the weekend, 10 children from Cherry Class went to the Colemans Hatch Fete and put on an exemplary display of Maypole Dancing.

Well done Cherry Class and thank you to Mrs Pike, Mrs Neville and all of the parents who supported in the re-introduction of this (previously) annual event.

On Monday, Lilac Class set off for their residential trip to Fort Purbrook in Porstmouth.

They have had a fantastic time splitting into activity groups during the day for archery, shooting, bush craft, laser tag, obstacle courses, kayaking, climbing, orienteering and putting their brains to work in ‘escape room’ style activities.

In the evenings, they have come back together and had a variety of races and problem solving games, ending with a barbeque for their last night.

We are thankful that the weather has been kind for their trip! We are extremely proud of Lilac Class, the staff on site have commented on what polite, happy children they are and they have all thrown themselves into the new experiences with gusto and delight.

Well done, Lilac Class. We are so proud of you and hope you sleep well over the weekend!

Last Friday the children split into Houses to celebrate different aspects of the King’s coronation celebrations.

To mark His Majesty The King’s Coronation, thousands of organisations across the country are getting together to give us all the chance to help out in our own local communities – it’s called The Big Help Out. We thought we would join in with this by litter picking and helping to make Hartfield look as beautiful as ever before the big weekend! After this, we played some Coronation-themed games called The King’s Horse race and Balance the Crown. The children were all so eager to do their part to tidy up in the village – it was lovely to see them all take such pride in their school’s local community.

They joined Mrs Pike and Mrs Neville to weave the willow branches into a crown. We were so impressed by the perseverance shown by all as they pushed and pulled the long branches to weave and create a crown fit for a king! Many children decided to embellish their crowns further with leaves and flowers.

The children planted some wildflower seeds around the bare patches of soil in the schools raised beds. The seeds had been sent to the children from the Parish council as part of the Coronation celebrations.

They children also planted some daffodil bulbs for next spring, potted some sunflowers and planted out some zinnias and vegetable seedlings which had been donated by the parent community.

There were some lovely coronation inspired plant labels created to accompany the plants which had gone in the ground.

There was time to have a general garden tidy up, creating neater edges along the edges of the garden and tidying up fallen leaves and old plant growth from last year. The children worked brilliantly to make the outside space tidy for Cherry and Maple Class. We can’t wait to see how our plants develop and thrive!

Thank you to the families of St Marys for the continued support for our amazing charity World in Need. After another ‘toastastic’ morning (thanks to Braxton for the description) we raised a super £29. Our Pupil Governors continue to help run things smoothly and Mrs Champion and Mrs T are now both a whizz at manning the toasters.

This week, our Pupil Governors have taken several suggestions of fund raising ideas to the pupils of St Mary’s. We have asked them to vote on what they would like to do as an additional fundraiser in July so that we raise enough money to cover the month of August. We will update you of the result later on.

The money we raise has a direct impact on the lives of the children that WIN support and we are very grateful for your donations.

We had a wonderful day at Hever Castle. We travelled there by minibus and the children enjoyed talking about the times that they had travelled along the same roads.  William noticed a castle sign on the side of the road – “Is the castle soon?  I can see a sign!”  Finn noticed a pub in Hever – “Oh, that is Henry VIII!” (on the pub sign).  Tuppence waved at her house as we passed and many of the children noticed that we were passing the entrance to Playschool.

After arriving at Hever, we found a lovely spot for an early lunch and the children chatted to each other about what they were looking forward to most about the trip.  They enjoyed playing a game of ‘put your hand up if you like grapes, raspberries, Sonic etc.’

The children loved feeding the ducks and we talked about the importance of giving them the right food and that bread was not very good for their tummies.

Playing in the maze was great fun and the children loved working together to find the centre. There was great teamwork finding the centre of the maze together.

Sami remembered that the entry to the castle was called a portcullis and we looked at the chains that held the drawbridge in place. Ruby talked about the moat and how it stopped people from being able to get into the castle.

We all spotted ornamental fish as we walked across the drawbridge.

In the castle, we looked at lots of different models and artefacts.  We saw a model of Anne Boleyn and Finn said “It must be Anne Boleyn because she has a ‘B’ on her necklace!”  Ruby told the class that Anne Boleyn had had her head cut off when “Henry didn’t love her any more.”  Finn also noticed a model of Henry VIII. “It must be Henry VIII because he always wears that hat.”  Alfred also spotted that model and commented, “That is Henry VIII.  He must be really hot under all of those clothes!”

We enjoyed looking at the stained glass windows and the children talked about the similarities with the ones at St. Mary’s church and strolled through the grounds and looked at the fountains and sculptures, before going to the playground.

Thank you to all parents and children who made World Book Day such a success. It was wonderful to see so many inventive and fun costumes worn with pride, and to hear lots of excited chatter about favourite books.

The children enjoyed our staff assembly of The Day the Crayons Came Home – with a special mention to Mrs Bastin and Mrs T as they took turns reading their postcard, which was very funny.

The Book Swap was a triumph and hopefully will become a yearly event on World Book day, as the children really got stuck in choosing a new book or books to take home.

Thank you to our Librarians, especially Eva, Esrah and Harry who put in so much effort into making the swap a success and for giving up so many of their lunchtimes to set up The Library Club, which will now run weekly, Monday lunchtimes.

In Cherry the children used ‘Journey’ as a starting point for their ideas and imagined what would be hidden behind their secret door They created some wonderfully descriptive sentences along with some careful illustrations.

In Willow we used the Willow Pattern Plate as a starting point for telling stories and then decorated our own plates ready to retell our own. The book scavenger hunt was trickier than expected as the children searched for exciting writing and detailed descriptions in many different genres of books.

On Friday, it was fabulous to see the children taking the opportunity to share their love of reading with each other.

On Wednesday 1st March, Lilac Class went to Preston Manor to experience life as Victorian servants for the morning. On arrival, they were greeted by Miss Ada, the housekeeper, and were quickly told exactly what was expected of them!

The children commented that Miss Ada was very strict and they were so perfectly behaved, Mrs Bastin and Mrs Hill were tempted to offer her a job..!

The children were then put to work, preparing Preston Manor for the arrival of some guests for a dinner party. Their tasks included cleaning rooms ready for guests, preparing tea trays, cutlery, grinding up herbs and spices for dinner, folding napkins, ironing, polishing and more! They children said how tired they felt at the end of all the tasks!

To finish off the morning, Miss Ada then ‘hired’ 5 children to be live-in servants and shared some more of the history of Preston Manor. The hands-on experience of the trip showed the children just what life was like back in Victorian times and actually how many things they have to be grateful for these days.

Thank you so much to all the parents who helped with costumes – the children looked amazing! A big thank you also to the parent helpers who accompanied us to Brighton for the day.

To increase the children’s understanding of the charity we are supporting this year, we had a visit from David and Anne from World in Need headquarters to take a whole school assembly which coincided with our second Toast for WIN morning.

It was a very ‘hands on’ assembly and involved much interaction from the children making it really hit home just how lucky we are to have access to a range of food in our daily lives. Anne and David were very impressed with the range of questions that the children asked about the work they do, and were very grateful for our ongoing support, which will have a massive impact on the lives of the children they support.

After assembly it was time for toast and it was enlightening to learn that the amount we have raised in just two months (£65) is enough to support one child in one of the schools in which they work, to have food for an entire year!

World in Need (WIN) is a Christian charity whose mission is to feed the hungry and help the poor. They currently work in ten countries across the world including Kenya, The Philippines and India.

As a school, throughout the year we will be raising funds to support their feeding programme, which seeks to offer children a well-balanced and nutritional meal daily.

Each month, our Pupil Governors will hold a ‘Toast for WIN’ session where they will offer toast and jam to all children in school in return for a small donation. We suggest 50p, but anything from 10p to £1 would be fantastic.

Our next ‘Toast for WIN’ will be on Thursday 30th March.

If you would like to know more: worldinneed.org.uk

Willow Class - Roald Dahl Day

Maple Class visited Forest Row Fire Station this week as part of their topic ‘Off We Go!’

They had a go at trying on the protective clothing.

“It is really heavy!”…..”The boots go up to my knees”….”The helmet has a torch on it!”

The children then went to have a look at the Fire Engine. They got to learn about all of the different equipment and what it was used for. They found out about heat scanners, hoses, cutting machinery, maps, breathing equipment and ladders.

Each of the children had a go at climbing into the fire engine. It was very high up!

The children learned about how the truck carries water and how to find a water supply when they are out on a job, by finding a ‘yellow H’. Then, there was much excitement about using the hoses! The children had a go at spraying the tower and the wall at the back of the fire station.

Finally, the children walked to the bus stop and took the 291 bus back to school in time for lunch.

“It was a double decker bus”….”we sat on the top deck”…. “This is the best school trip ever!”

As part of this term’s learning about The Great Fire of London, Cherry class visited Chiddingly school for an experience day with the brilliant Hands on History team. As with most school trips, the coach trip was a very big part of the day; for some, it was their first time on a coach. How exciting!

On arrival, the children from both schools had fun dressing up their teachers in Stuart militia clothing from 1666. Mrs Pike was lucky enough to be dressed as a militia man who would also have been a firefighter. Unfortunately for Mrs Pike, the clothing of that time would have been filthy and flea infested because firefighters would only have been able to have a bath every three months. Yuck! It was also extremely heavy and difficult to move around in, especially with all the heavy armour and equipment that needed to be used in war or to tackle fires.

Next, the children investigated and thought about different occupations of people living in the Stuart era through exploring unusual artefacts. They had to work out who might have used the objects in their daily work. Some of the objects included quills and ink for a cartographer, leather and needles for a leatherworker, a pestle and mortar for an apothecary and pellets for a gunsmith.

It was interesting to consider how these jobs have evolved over time.

After exploring how people of the time worked, the children moved into a bakery in Pudding Lane. They used flour and water to create a very messy
mixture before rolling it and shaping it into a dough. They baked these in the oven, and although the biscuits they made on the day weren’t edible, they experienced how bakers of the time made biscuits that if kept dry could be stored for up to three months!

In the afternoon, the fun continued when all the children got a taste of how the helmets and armour would have felt by trying them on. They were all in agreement that they were very heavy and uncomfortable indeed!

In addition, the children learned how to shoot a miniature Stuart crossbow dart at the enemy target. This was a favourite activity for many!

On the playground, we watched a demonstration of how they would have lit the fire to warm up the bread ovens in the Pudding Lane Bakers’. We saw the sparks that were created by the friction from the flint and steel which set fire to a small ball of straw. We watched the fire begin as smoke and with the help of blowing air, the smoke eventually turned to flames.

Later on, Cherry class worked together brilliantly to see which team was the quickest at passing buckets filled with orange balls to simulate the team effort that would have been required to put out the Fire of London in 1666. We were impressed with how cooperative they were!

To finish off the day in style, Mrs Neville and Mrs Champion were dressed up in some magnificent Stuart outfits. Back in 1666, Mrs Neville’s outfit would have cost the equivalent of a car in 2023!

We must say, green really is her colour! Dressed as Samuel Pepys, Mrs Champion really was keeping up with the high fashions of the Stuart
Court in her grand outfit.

Here are some of the things the children said about the day:

Oliver: I enjoyed filling the buckets with all the balls.

Charlie: I liked making cookies, travelling to the school and playing everything.

Wilf: I liked passing the buckets to put out the fire. Marlie: I enjoyed getting there and looking at all the amazing stuff.

Liv: I made some new friends! Khaleesi: I liked making biscuits. Lilly-Mae: I liked making cookies and mixing the flour and water.

Ollie: I liked shooting the targets best!

It is fair to say that the children all had a fantastic day and we were very proud of their behaviour throughout. The trip finalised our topic and consolidated the term’s learning perfectly. As always, we are very grateful to the helpers who came along to help the day run smoothly.

On Friday 27th January, we spent the day celebrating Chinese New Year! We reminded ourselves of the story of the Great Race and explored how Chinese New Year is celebrated. We did lots of activities across the day to help us learn about Chinese culture.

One of our activities was to have a go at writing with a calligraphy brush and ink. We figured out how to write our birthdays in Chinese and then had a go at painting them in a calligraphic style!

We also tried our hand at cooking custard-filled bao buns. As this year is the year of the Rabbit, we had a go at decorating them to look like rabbits! We mixed and kneaded the dough ourselves and then constructed them (which was a bit fiddly!)

We tried them once they had been steamed—they were quite yummy!

We created our very own Terracotta army using clay. We learnt about the discovery of the Terracotta Army in Xian, China in 1974 and how each figure as completely different to each other. We spent a lot of time with the tools to ensure each warrior had its own style!

We also designed and constructed fortune cookies and at the end of the day, Braxton and Harrison handed them out around the school—the staff really enjoyed getting a positive fortune for the new year!

Thank you to everyone who made our first Toast for WIN morning a great success! We raised just over £30 for their feeding programme, which will mean six children will receive a nutritious lunch for a month.

Our Pupil Governors were fantastic at preparing the toast and making sure that individual requests were catered for.

Thank you to all parents for supporting this new initiative.

Our next Toast for WIN morning will be Thursday 23rd February when the CEO of World in Need will deliver an assembly to the children and see our fundraising in action.

If you would like to know more: worldinneed.org.uk

We held our School Nativity this week and the children were absolutely fantastic!
The feedback received from those watching has been amazing and we are so proud of all of the children for their hard work and commitment to learning the songs and lines, for their teamwork, their positivity and the incredible listening they did through the preceding weeks, in practice.
Well done, St Mary’s!

What a wonderful start to the week, as we celebrated our individuality by wearing odd socks. It was fantastic to see such bright colours and to be able to use them as a starting point for conversations about our similarities and differences. A very big thank you to our Anti-Bullying Ambassadors who worked so hard on delivering Monday’s assembly.

In Maple class we have been sharing the book, ‘This is Our House’ by Michael Rosen and thinking about the fact that George is a bully and stops other children from sharing the playhouse. We have thought about what bullying means and what we should do if we feel someone is being unkind to us. We have learned that it is important to tell someone if they are hurting our feelings or our bodies and that we should always tell a grown up.

Finally, we have played some inclusive games, making sure everyone is joining in and feels welcome. We played Duck, Duck, Goose and ‘What is the time, Mr Wolf?

In Cherry Class, we discussed how we are all different what we like about each other. We enjoyed watching ‘Andy and the Odd Socks’, who are the patrons of the Anti-Bullying Alliance, perform some fun songs with important messages about how we can be kind to each other. We discussed the importance of speaking about bullying to someone who can help. Working in pairs, we created a pair of socks knowing that each of our designs would be different and that’s okay!

In Willow Class, we took the opportunity to talk about how we can ‘Reach Out’ to others if we are being bullied and who that person might be. The class enjoyed sharing whom they would trust. To demonstrate the importance of everyone joining together to beat bullying we created a paper chain to show the impact we can have if ‘We challenge it, We can change it’. The children then thought about ways in which they can make a difference to create a kind and caring environment. We shared these as a class before recording them.

Lilac class also looked at ways in which they could ‘Reach Out’ to someone who was being bullied. They enjoyed discussing the ways in which we all have a part to play in tackling bullying. They considered the different roles that pupils can take in a bullying scenario and how they have the power to change the situation through their actions and the consequences if they don’t. As ever, they presented a mature and considered response to a sensitive topic.

Today, the whole school remembered those who lost their lives to secure peace for our country. Reverend Julie reminded us that the names on the crosses that we laid at the church memorial were of men who would once have walked the paths in our village, and some had even attended our school.

The children represented the school beautifully and we are very proud of them.

Willow Class had an amazing time exploring all of the interactive science exhibits at Herstmonceux Science Centre on Wednesday. We were so fortunate that the weather was glorious and allowed us to discover the site to its fullest!

We were able to get hands-on with all of the exhibits and had enough time to fully investigate the different areas – both inside and out!

The giant Archimedes Screw was a firm favourite for the children. They enjoyed working as a team to lift the ball by turning the Archimedes Screw so that the ball would rise to the top!

Willow children then displayed their awesome teamwork skills by building two different bridges and were able to walk across the truss bridge they had built.

All of the children enjoyed the practicality ‘hands on’ aspect of the day, and when Logan was asked what his favourite part of the trip had been, he replied “Everything!” [High Praise!]

It was great to see and be with some of the other Year 3 & 4 classes of The Pioneer Federation. A special thanks must go to out fabulous parent helpers Mrs Waine and Mrs Cox.

Thank you to our ‘roving reporters’, Braxton, Noah and Lucas, who prepared the following:

On Wednesday 12th October, some children from Lilac Class represented the school at the Cross Country at Beacon Academy in Crowborough. This event was very challenging and pushed St Mary’s to their limits. 12 children from our school Braxton, Harrison, Lucas, Noah, Will, Luca, Megan, Amelia, Layla, Isla, Freddie and Esrah were selected because of our Inter-House Cross Country results. All of the students pushed through and got exceeding positions in the race from, 35th to 11th place. This is amazing because there was a whopping amount of people in each race (going up to 70 plus people in each race). One of our students (the super Braxton) pushed through to make it into the next round as one of the representatives of East Sussex.

Quotes that were giving by cross country runners.

“This event was very challenging but the crowd kept us going.” Megan and Amelia
“It was very hard but I enjoyed it.” Will
“That everybody cheered us on so we could make a sprint finish.” Isla
“I am very proud of my performance as I tried my best and pushed myself to my limits.” Braxton
“I am very happy that I had someone to accompany me during the run.” Freddie
“I enjoyed that the team was really supportive and was happy all the way through even when somethings went wrong.” Noah
“I was very happy to be selected for this event as all of the schools were good sportsman.” Lucas
“It was a fun time and every one was supportive.” Layla
“I was injured near the start so my buddy Braxton continued the race for me.” Harrison
“I really liked the running and everything else.” Esrah

Before the event

Everyone was buzzing, confident and nervous ready for their exciting race, when they heard they were selected for this event. Mr D, our P.E teacher, prepared us incredibly well for races by reminding us of the correct running style and pushing us to the best we can be by practising with all of us and giving us encouraging advice.

Mrs Bastin was with us all the way through, cheering us on as we crossed the finish line. Mrs Neville was very supportive, helping us get through the daunting race.

This was definitely one of the best Beacon races St Mary’s has ever had and we hope next year is just as good – maybe better with extra training!

We were very thankful that the rain held off for our Inter-House Cross Country races last Friday, 30th September.
An event for the whole school, each child raced to gain points for their ’house’, running within their classes to enable the distances to be planned.

Maple Class completed 200m (1 lap of the cricket square)

Cherry Class completed 600m (1 lap of the Croft)

Willow Class completed 1000m (3 laps of the Croft)

Lilac Class completed 1500m (5 laps of the Croft)

Well done to you all for completing your races and for being shining examples for our school.

On Wednesday 28th September, pupils from Lilac class held a coffee morning to raise money for the Macmillan Cancer Support charity.

They wrote letters inviting people from across Hartfield, spent their lunchtimes popping them into envelopes and then our lovely Megan (with help from Eva) spent her weekend posting them through letterboxes.

It was so fantastic to see so many people come and join us for coffee, tea and cake. Our pupils made brilliant baristas and engaged so beautifully with our guests.

This term, we have been asking ourselves, ‘How and why should we give our time to others?’ and this event was a perfect example of why.

Mrs Funnell said that many commented on how polite and helpful the children were and what a pleasant morning it was.

Lilac Class were superstars from start to finish, setting up the hall, chatting and serving our guests and then   tidying away at the end. We are so proud of them.

A big thank you to everyone who donated something baked and also to Kerry & the PTFA for providing hot drinks and serving.

What a great way to spend a Wednesday and, even better, we raised a whopping £200.13!

Congratulations to everyone who took part in Sports Day last Friday.

The sun shone, the houses were so supportive of each other and the children all ran at their best; we are so thankful for and proud of you all.

A special congratulations to Cuckmere House, who lifted the Sports Day cup.

Thank you to everyone who came to support the children, the afternoon would not work as well without you there.

On Friday 24th July, a team from Lilac Class represented the school in the Pioneer Federation Football Tournament.

The team had an amazing time and were placed 2nd in the tournament!

The organisers then chose a fabulous goal by Brax as ‘goal of the tournament!’ Congratulations, Brax!

Congratulations go to the team from Chiddingly School who were placed first.

St Mary’s team: we are all so proud of the way you played; you are a credit to the school!

Maple Class started their visit to Forest Row Fire Station with a fantastic tour of the building and learned all about the different jobs a firefighter does.
The class asked lots of brilliant questions to the firefighters, such as:

“How do you know where to go to put out a fire?”
“Do women work as firefighters?”
“How long is the hose?”

The children each had a go at putting on the Fire fighters protective clothing, exploring the fire truck and spraying the hose at the training tower.
They learned lots of things about why it is important to wear protective clothing, how long the ladders are, how to climb up into a fire truck, what a fire alarm sounds like, how the fireman find a water source and lots, lots more!

The children then waited at the bus stop for the 291 bus to Tunbridge Wells. They spotted the bus stop sign and the ‘H’ sign which shows a water source.

When we got off the bus, we walked through Hartfield village to Pooh Corner and had a look at the ‘Poohseum’. There was lots of interest and discussion about the toys and photographs all about Winnie the Pooh and his friends.

On 27th May, we were blessed with good weather for our annual May Fair.

The children had worked hard to learn their dances and were amazing when they danced around the May Pole in traditional costumes after our delightful May Fair King and Queen had been crowned.

Thank you to all who were able to support this afternoon and to the PTFA for keeping everyone fed and watered!

On Sunday 5th June 2022, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will be celebrating her Platinum Jubilee!

St Mary’s celebrated this amazing achievement, with a day dedicated to learning about her historic reign; making flags, crowns and place mats and baking.

We all joined together on the playground for a ‘street party’ lunch enjoying sandwiches, sausage rolls and cake!

Congratulations are sent to Her Majesty and we all wish you well.

Along with celebrating this historic occasion, our aim for today was to learn more about the Queen Elizabeth II, her reign and coronation and we took the opportunity to look at all the coronations spanning back 900 years and different types of anniversaries!

We then went on to make some crown jewels and became extremely creative with all the resources we had to help us make magnificent crowns, paint flags, make place mats and bake!

What a fabulous day!

Willow Class had the most wonderful day with the Hands on History group at Park Mead Primary School.

It was a jam-packed day filled with Roman timelines, dressing up as Roman and Celtic warriors, investigating real artefacts, a battle scene vs the teachers and lastly a Roman style operation.

An excellent way to end off the term as we finish with part 1 of our Roman topic and filled with knowledge and motivation to learn even more about the Romans next term.

Maple Class had a fantastic day at The Briars’ Field Centre. They talked about water in its different forms, such as ice and the rain falling outside!

They then explored the woodland, ponds and the meadow to learn about the ecosystems and the creatures and plants in each of them. The children found whirly-gig beetles, water boatman, pond skaters, diving beetles, newts, spiders, woodlice, ants, moths and shield bugs amongst other things. They quickly learned how to pond dip carefully and how to catch insects in nets in the pond and from the trees.

They learned a song and a dance about the bluebells and really enjoyed asking lots of questions about everything they had seen
Then the children walked to Pooh Bridge to listen to a story about how Pooh Bear invented the game of Poohsticks with pinecones. The children then all had a few games and found a house where Pooh Bear lived!

In Hartfield village, the children enjoyed looking at the map of the village and the display of the queen’s Jubilee in the window of the Pooh Corner Shop.

There was enough time to have a little play together in the playground on the croft and an ice pop, before returning to school.
A huge thanks to Mr and Mrs Rowberry and our volunteers for making this day possible!

As part of our ‘Explorers’ topic this term, Cherry Class have been discovering some of the most extreme places in the world with attention paid to lots of different animals that have adapted to survive in these places.

On Friday 20th May, we had the opportunity to spend the day at Drusillas which gave the children a great opportunity see some of these amazing animals.

The first activity was an animal encounter session. We got to see a Cockroach, a snake, a rat and a bearded dragon.

Cherry class pushed through fear and boundaries to touch and engage with these beautiful animals.

As well as exploring the animals, the children had a fantastic time discovering the adventure playground, then experiencing the rides. The Carousel was a firm favourite for everyone!

Despite the soggy conditions, the children remained positive throughout the day and great fun was had by all.

Lilac class had fantastic trip to London a few weeks ago and were delighted that local MP for Wealden, Nus Ghani, found time to drop in and meet with us while we were on a tour of the House of Commons.

Lilac class were beautifully behaved throughout the trip and asked a range of questions that demonstrated their understanding of the political system in the UK.

A river cruise on the Thames was a particular highlight of the trip and their excellent behaviour was commented upon by several members of the public.

This week, Lilac and some of Willow’s keenest gardeners planted the seeds for this year. We are hoping to have a harvest of pumpkins and cauliflower in the autumn and beans, leeks, carrots and courgettes this summer. Thanks to the amazing amount of Good to Grow’ Morrisons vouchers parents kindly collected for us, we were able to buy a mini greenhouse to help our seeds germinate indoors for the first few weeks. We also bought new trowels and forks, along with buckets and aprons to keep everything clean(ish..) and organised.

We have saved the new veg patch to plant out the pumpkins and cauliflowers later in the year as these will need lots of space to grow. Watch this space for how they get on!

There has been much enthusiasm this week, getting the beds ready to plant the vegetable seeds for this year. We even found a potato that was missed when harvesting!

It was great fun preparing the new raised bed that we were able to buy from the proceeds made selling our produce last year.

Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard on this project.

Once again World Book Day was enjoyed by the whole school. Both children and staff relished the opportunity to celebrate books and reading across all year groups. We shared some much loved stories in class and the chil-dren enjoyed our version of ‘The Day the Crayons Quit’ in assembly. All classes took part in different activities centred around reading at various points throughout the day and week.

Lilac Class designed their own mini books. The books produced ranged from retellings of familiar stories to fact filled books on Meercats, Pandas and World War 1!

Willow Class took part in a book scavenger hunt and also created a Share a Story to recommend a favourite book to their peers.

Cherry Class had their own scavenger hunt where they were on the look out for the costumes of children throughout the school. It was lovely to see the different year groups interacting with each other and enjoying showing off their costumes.

Maple Class have taken the opportunity across the whole week, to share everyone’s favourite books!

In Willow Class, we designed and made posters to help us be internet ‘SMART’ and to keep us safe when using the internet.

In Cherry Class, we had a discussion about the internet. We talked about what devices we have at home and how we use them. We watched some short animations with some lovely characters. We saw that Jessie felt a bit funny when she saw something scary on her tablet. She found her daddy and told him how she felt. We also talked about how sending pictures in messages can make people feel sad and that we shouldn’t share anything about anyone else without asking them first.

We went to Hever Castle as part of our ‘Once Upon a Time’ learning journey. What a fantastic way to end our term!

After our first trip in a minibus together, the children started their day with a visit to the castle, feeding ducks in the moat along the way.

They learned about Anne Boylen, who was a child at the castle. She then grew up to become a queen by marrying King Henry 8th.

The spiral staircases were fun!

The children saw lots of fish in the moat and conquered the maze, without getting too lost!

They wandered the formal gardens, spotting fountains, waterfalls and signs of spring. They bravely crossed a stream over stepping stones and spent a fantastic time in the adventure playground.

Such great friendships, risk taking, challenges, being brave and having a lot of fun together.

The children did some excavating of dinosaur bones using different tools and techniques so not to damage the millions of year old bones and then they had to write about their findings and complete a ‘record of find’ to submit to the experts at the museum.

They then learnt about palaeo-artists and how they work out what dinosaurs looked like from the skeletons alone.

On Wednesday 15th December, the whole school took part in the Christingle Service in church, led be Reverend Julie.

We learnt about the significance of all aspects to the Christingle concluding with a lighting of the candle to signify the Light of Jesus being there for all who turn to Him.

On Thursday 9th December, we performed our whole school Nativity. Thank you to everyone who supported this and a huge WELL DONE to the children who were fabulous and blew us away with their incredible singing!

This term Cherry’s Class topic is ‘What happens where I live?’ So far, in their learning the children have immersed themselves in the world of Winnie the Pooh. They have also explored the idea of mapping. On Thursday the 2nd December it was time to use these skills and go and find Pooh and his friends in the Ashdown Forest. Cherry Class wrapped up warm and set out on a ‘hike’ to find Pooh Bridge.

First, they were given a blank map. They were told to add significant landmarks to their map as we passed them. This included Eeyore’s gloomy place, Owl’s house, Piglet’s house and the Up and Down bench. On our way the children collected sticks, in preparation for their arrival at the Bridge!

Once there the action commenced and Pooh Sticks was enjoyed by all. Upon leaving the bridge we stumbled across Pooh’s House. The children looked on in wonder, and were excited to read notes left by other visitors before us.

Lunchtime was a very welcome break from the cold, and we took shelter in the sanctuary of Mr and Mrs Rowbery’s. Not only was this a great opportunity to use the toilet and shelter from the wind, but it was also an opportunity to observe trees planted by the children last year and measure how much they had grown.

After lunch it was time to resume our hike. The children followed the footpath to Hartfield village, following signs along our way.
The last part of the day was popping into Pooh Corner for some well-deserved cake and squash, enjoying being part of a café just like the one we have created in our role play area at school.

On Tuesday 30th November, Lilac Class dressed as WW2 evacuees and visited the Kent Life Heritage Centre.

They were put through their paces by the Home Guard, learning how to march and then moved on to the RAF for instructions on navigation.

Later they made ‘rag rugs’, visited a 1940s house with Anderson shelter, and established that ‘carrots’ won the war!

Trips like this are so important for the children, bringing to life lessons from school and on this trip, enabling them, to experience how things would have been.

This week we have been focusing on raising awareness around anti-bullying. Our theme has been ‘One Kind Word’ and creating ‘One Kind Word’ chains each morning (words chains work by one child starting off with a kind word about the person next to them and working your way around the classroom.)

On Monday our pupil governors visited each class to raise awareness of Anti-Bullying Week and ways to counteract bullying. They spoke with the classes about plans for an anti-bullying lesson in each class and explained their ‘caught you being kind’ certificates, which were given out through the week.

On Wednesday, the whole school participated in Odd Sock Day, when the children attended school in odd socks to celebrate difference and individuality.

Thank you to everyone in school for their hard work during the week, and for sharing kind words, offering support to each other and for generally raising awareness through Love, Strength and Faith.

On Thursday 4th November, Willow Class had an extremely exciting trip to Hever Castle. We divided into groups and journeyed around the castle taking a good look in all the rooms and learning so much as we went along. We experienced the dining hall where many Tudor banquets were held, saw the bedroom where Anne Boleyn was raised together with the one used by Henry VIII when he visited the castle.

There was a lot of furniture and paintings from the Tudor era, which helped us get a good understanding of life at that time.

We finished off with a lovely picnic in the gardens, a stroll through the beautiful grounds and finally a stop off at the adventure playground!

We had a fantastic day and our knowledge of the Tudors has been enriched by this great trip.

On Thursday 11th November at 11:00am, the whole school joined in remembering all that have given their lives to protect our country.

We gathered at the Church memorial where Rev Julie spoke and prayed before 11:00am, when, with the rest of the country, we observed two minutes silence in respect to all who have fallen.

Each child then lay a cross at the memorial, named for individuals people who had lived in the local area but gave their lives during war.
Thank you to all who have supported our poppy sales and to those who joined us on Thursday.

This month is Black History month and on Wednesday each class celebrated a different aspect of History.

Cherry Class learnt about lots of inspirational people from black history including Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Louis Armstrong and Benjamin Banneker.

Cherry Class and Maple Class joined together to learn a traditional South African Lullaby.

When they were discussing the hopes and dreams of Martin Luther King Junior, they started talking about how they could make the world a better place in the future and wrote their own dreams down.

Today we took part in the One Run Global Schools Day.

One Run for Good are helping to support children get active all around the world, wanting to put a bit of good back in the world and on Friday 15th October, teachers and pupils from all over the world have been running, walking and moving for 15+ minutes to unite the globe.

On Tuesday afternoon, Eva, Hugo and Freddie spent the afternoon with Zoe Conway, a BBC News correspondent talking all things Winnie-the-Pooh! The original Pooh Bridge went up for auction on Wednesday and the children did an incredible job at explaining the rules of Pooh Sticks, reading an extract of the story and showing just how important Winnie the Pooh is to the community in Hartfield. We are so proud of the children for their confidence, sense of fun and patience when recording it as they had to repeat their part a few times to make sure it was the best it can be!

On Friday 1st October two Police Officers came to visit the school.

They met with Reception, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 separately and spoke with both about helping people in the community and keeping people safe. They also talked with the children about who to ask if you are lost or meet a stranger and who to talk to about it.

The children asked lots of questions which including finding out about the job of a Police Officer.

On Tuesday 28th September, Martin from Open View came to school and ran sessions with each class looking at different aspects of Wellbeing and how to care for ourselves and each other. There was much role play involved encouraging the children to be assertive and let others know if they are feeling sad or worried, with Martin feeding back on what excellent actors we have in school.

Every class showed great interest and compassion as they were led through a variety of situations which encouraged practical ways to maintain and improve our own Mental Health, then looked at ways in which we can all support friends.

The Classes were kept busy undertaking some physical activity to encourage physical wellbeing and the younger classes entertained through a mixture of puppetry.

Each session finished with an activity of mindfulness.

Martin was impressed with how the children spoke and worked with each other as well as the quality of ideas that the children shared.

It was a very helpful and productive day.

Inspired by our book ‘The Night Pirates’, we have gone pirate mad this week. We had lots of pirate fun. We all dressed up as pirates and enjoyed talking to each other about different features of our outfits. We had eye patches, treasure, cutlasses, headscarves and stripey shirts galore!

We played a game of ‘Port, Starboard, Bow, Stern’, following the verbal and visual clues to move (as fast as possible) to different places in the gym. We also had to respond with particular actions when we heard ‘man overboard’, or ‘land ahoy’ or ‘scrub the decks.’

We then had a treasure hunt! We had to listen carefully to the clues before deciding where to look for the treasure the pirates had left for us. They had hidden some chocolate treats for us in the out-side house! We enjoyed eating them in the sunshine.

Finally, we danced to some sea shanties and played musical statues and musical bumps!

Our wonderful Mr D organised and ran a fantastic Sports Day on Friday.

A huge well done to the winning house: Cuckmere! We are so proud of all the children for their efforts – they are true St Mary’s stars!

An enormous thank you to the incredible PTFA for all their work and for organising the Summer Social.

What a special afternoon to enjoy being all together as a community.

 

Another amazing day! We’re all looking forward to coming home tomorrow to tell you about all of our adventures. We hope you enjoy some of the hilarious faces happening in these photos!

After what turned out to be quite a competitive game of Ambush yesterday evening, we’ve enjoyed another day full of mud and heights! The majority of us needed waking up this morning to be ready for breakfast and we enjoyed bacon with scrambled eggs to prepare us for the day. We will be venturing out on the Dragon boats this afternoon before attempting to climb Jacob’s Ladder. Everyone is having a brilliant time and loving all of the activities!

It’s certainly been a day for heights today! After a yummy, hot breakfast, which included sausages, hash browns and beans, we all set off for a day in the clouds. We learnt how to strap ourselves into harnesses and how to connect safely, before trying our hands at climbing, the zip wire and an amazing vertical challenge. Amongst all of this, some of us embraced our inner ‘Robin Hood’ aiming for that bullseye in archery, whilst others made Miss Munn proud showing off our shelter-building and tool skills. Some of us also tried a Sensory Trail, which was completing an obstacle course whilst blind-folded. I’m not sure everyone found the mud and puddles quite so funny during this, but it was absolutely hilarious for Mrs Hill and Mrs T watching everyone stumble around under cargo nets and through tire tunnels. After a wet night, the rain has mostly held off for today and we’re all looking forward to a filling dinner of Spaghetti Bolognese or Piri Piri Chicken. What a fantastic day!

We’ve arrived all safe and sound and it seems we brought the sunshine with us! After a smooth ferry crossing, we cracked straight on with an activity: one group tried their hands at buggy building, whilst the other got extremely muddy (sorry parents!) tackling the challenge course. After dinner, we will be enjoying a campfire and then it’s bedtime—I’m sure they’ll all fall asleep pretty much straight away and sleep soundly for the entire night…

On Thursday, Willow Class joined Mr and Mrs Rowberry for a number of wildlife activities. We had so much fun learning about how to conserve our local habitats.

Bug Hotels

The children helped Mr and Mrs Rowberry re-build their bug hotels. We created new homes for the bugs using bamboo, twigs, tiles, cans and leaves. We hope that the bugs enjoy their stay!

Woodland Walk

Mr Rowberry took us around the woods, pointing out fascinating invertebrates and explained the local food chain to us.

Pond Dipping

We found many different species in the pond, from newts to water boatman. The children learnt the importance of preserving all species, right down to the water fleas.

Pooh Bridge Walk

We couldn’t visit Pooh Bridge without a brilliant game of ‘Pooh Sticks’.
Thank you so much to the parent volunteers, who helped make this such a fantastic morning.

 

We had such a brilliant day out to Groombridge Place. We caught the 291 bus to Groombridge and enjoyed looking out of the windows from the upper deck.
After a delicious picnic, we walked along the canal to the playground. Along the way, we saw two geese and a gosling, lots of sheep, deer and even a zonkey and a Shetland pony. We also saw lots and lots of wild flowers and wild garlic.

The playground was so much fun! Afterwards we watched the bird show and were lucky enough to see a step eagle, an Asian brown wood owl and a pair of black kites.

Afterwards we played hide and seek in the walled garden and looked for fish in the ornamental pond. After another snack and a little rest, we returned to Hartfield on the number 291 bus.

This week, Lilac Class finished off their topic, ‘Codebreakers’ with our very own Spy Day! We all came dressed in our best spy gear and brought in our home projects to present to the rest of the class. We had designed and written about our own spy gadgets in Literacy and brought them to life this week – well, as best we could, some of our ideas would take a lot more money and resources to actually build! Some of the gadgets we saw were spyglasses, spy pens, laser books, freeze-ray chocolate, USB credit cards and spike shoes. During the day, we learnt about the work of Alan Turing and others at Bletchley Park throughout World War 2 and even had a go at our own code breaking. We wrote descriptively about life at Bletchley Park based on some illustrations by an artist called Alex Leigh Whitworth and everyone created their very own secret spy names. I wonder if any of these amazing spies-in-training will end up working for Mi6 one day?

Bikeability is underpinned by the National Standard for cycle training and with a government-recognised set of principles it is an improved, updated and more relevant version of the old cycling proficiency scheme.

Delivered by professional instructors it aims to encourage participants to gain practical skills and an understanding of how to cycle on today’s roads.
This week, our lovely Year 5’s have been undertaking this training, exploring the local community and Forest Way to learn and practise their new skills.

This term Cherry Class’ topic is ‘Glorious Growing’. To immerse ourselves in all things botanical, yesterday we headed off to Wakehurst Place. Since we started this topic (last week!) Cherry Class have been particularly fascinated about seeds. Convenient then, that Wakehurst is home to the Milenium Seed Bank.

On arrival, we were led down through the Gardens to the Mansion House. Once inside, we were shown an image of a birthday party with lots of different food including popcorn, chocolate, cake, juice, and bread. We learnt that without plants we wouldn’t have any of these foods.

The next part of the day was the Amazing Seeds workshop. We got to see the largest seed in the world: the double coconut. It was huge! We compared it with the smallest seed in the world: the seed from an orchid. It was really hard to see. We then had the opportunity to engage with 4 different activities to discover seeds more closely. The children loved the opportunity to use microscopes to get a really close look at a variety of seeds.

“Carrot seeds are really spiky!” Tiago

We then embarked on the Tremendous Trees Trail discovering trees that live in the rainforest, trees as old as Dinosaurs (we learnt diplodocuses ate them!), trees whose seeds need wings to help them disperse and the thickest beech tree we have ever seen.

Once we had eaten lunch and had a well-deserved run and play on the mansion lawns, we had a go at some Ephemeral Art.; using natural objects collected from the ground to create im-ages of plants. The children were fantastic at working together to create some really beautiful pictures.

“I created a sunflower using pink petals.” Elodie

The impact of this trip can be shown through the knowledge gained through direct interaction with seeds and plants. The opportunity to compare a huge variety of seeds has given the children a strong foundation at the start of our learning into how plants grow and develop.

On our return to the classroom, as we continue to grow plants and develop our knowledge of plants, we will look at seeds with a new sense of awe and wonder.

It’s So Exciting
I Believe
Good Luck With That!
On A Journey
His Father’s Love
A Starry Night
Shepherds!
Come Together
It’s So Exciting (Reprise)

Click here to view

To build upon our learning for our topic, ‘Toys’, Cherry Class visited Pooh Corner on Wednesday morning. The children had the opportunity to learn about some of the world’s most famous characters and all of the different toys that have been created thanks to A.A Milne’s creations over the last 95 years! We even got the chance to cuddle a Pooh Bear that was as old as the very first cuddly toy.

Amelia said: ‘We learnt how old Winnie-the-Pooh is and I loved getting to hold all of the toys – even the really old ones!’
Teagan said: ‘We talked about all of the different Winnie-the-Pooh toys. I never knew there were so many!’

IMPACT & KNOWLEDGE GAINED: Visiting Pooh Corner allowed the children to learn about their topic right on their doorstep; engaging with their community and building upon cultural capital. They learned how toys have developed over time and can now compare a part of history with what they know today.

Thank you for your donations; the school has raised £78.00

Lilac Class had fun creating funny monsters then all voted on their favourites.

Cherry Class had a fun Red Nose Day quiz about all things red.

Maple Class played a tricky word phonics game by bouncing and catching a balloon with our tricky words on.

Willow Class held a joke-a-thon, voting on whether the jokes were ‘snore-worthy’ or whether the comedian should perform an encore!

Wildlife Explorers put on a play in assembly this week: to show how Fairtrade helps cocoa farmers and the rainforest. They have learned that Fairtrade cocoa farmers are paid a Fairtrade Minimum Price. On top of the minimum price, farmer organisations also receive a Fairtrade Premium , which helps to provide toilets, clean water and schools for their communities. Fairtrade farmers support the surrounding rainforest, plants and animals, which means nature helps healthy cocoa trees to grow.

Over the past few weeks Miss Boswell has supported Maple Class with filming familiar stories. They have all dressed up, acted in, narrated and filmed their stories in small groups. These included ‘Cinderella’, ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’ and ‘Sleeping Beauty’. The class invited their parents in and made popcorn for the film show. What a brilliant bit of work Maple Class, the films were wonderful!

For World Book Day, as well as having the opportunity to dress as their favourite character from a book, each class contributed to a whole school story. The teachers brought in an object that needed to be included and the classes wrote a paragraph each. Starting in Maple, the story progressed through Cherry to Willow, giving Lilac the exciting task of bringing the story to its conclusion.

Can you work out the items each class had to include?

Once upon a time there was a friendly rainbow bear called David. He lived in an oak tree in the Ashdown Forest. The tree had a little door so that the bear could go in and out and was covered in green leaves and orange flowers. One day he was found asleep on the cushions in the library of St Mary’s school. A grey mouse with sparkly green eyes was sleeping in a light pink ballet shoe. It lived in the small ballet shoe in the corner of the library.

The mouse became friends with the bear. They were reading a book about “How to find a magical key” and suddenly a magic key appeared in thin air. They found a small door in one of the bookshelves and unlocked it with the key. They went through it full of wonder and the door closed behind them. They were trapped in a story – Toy Story 4. They met Woody, Jessie and Bo Peep. Woody said “Let’s go on an adventure .” They went to meet Evil Emperor Zurg.

They stepped forward and they were in an enchanted forest with twinkling lights surrounding them. The mouse became frightened and the bear laughed at him and they started arguing. All of a sudden Pikachu runs past them and headed straight towards a glowing light. Zurg slowly emerged and went to attack them all. Within a split second, a lightning bolt flashed and killed Zurg instantly. All the sparkling lights started forming stars and filled a jar. Woody & Bo Peep went over to see the jar. It was a jar of dreams. It was flashing and twinkling. As a team, they made a costume that meant they could enter the jar of dreams. They all held hands and jumped inside. There were four different portals and dreams for them to choose…

They looked at the four portals and decided to put it to a vote. The first portal led to Atlantis, the wondrous underwater city and the second was Badger’s House. The third would take them to Emerald City and the final one was just black, just nothing. For some reason, they decided this portal would be the best one to choose and they dropped in one-by-one. Once everyone had reached the bottom, all they could see was themselves! They looked up, they looked down; to the right, to the left – they couldn’t see anything. The decision was made to head in a straight line. After what felt like forever, the group stumbled upon a vast lake, which had four pairs of wellies lined up beside it. The four of them put on the wellies and were led by the magical boots towards the water. They were starting to panic, but the weird thing was they didn’t sink! They slowly made their way towards the middle of the lake, but unfortunately they didn’t realise they were heading towards a waterfall. They fell and they fell…and landed on a pile of cushions in the library at St Mary’s School.

This week, St Mary’s paused to explore the wonderful continent of Australia! We started the morning by looking at where Australia is situated in the world; its many beautiful landmarks and tourist attractions; some famous faces that we might recognise from the big screen and finally some of its local heroes that have blown people away with their courage and steadfastness towards the bush fires.

We then split into our classes and began carousel of activities throughout the school. In Willow, we were looking at some traditional Australian treats, such as Lamingtons and Fairy bread. The children had a go at decorating biscuits, using fruit, to represent the Australian flag and tasted Vegemite – this definitely had mixed reviews! In Lilac, we were learning all about Saint Mary MacKillop, who was the first Australian saint, and her impact on people’s lives. She is still celebrated in Australia today and she is said to have performed two miracles! As well as this, we tried our hands at Aboriginal Art, using paints. It was really interesting and therapeutic designing and creating patterns! Lastly, we explored some Australian traditions. We started by looking at boomerangs (thank you Rory, Kishi & Kaya for bringing these in to share with us!) and then learnt a traditional Indigenous game called ‘Boogalah’ – this proved to be very popular, if somewhat competitive… We created actions for a song called ‘Kookaburra’ and everyone came together at the end of the day to perform this to parents in an assembly. We had an amazing day – it was so interesting to learn about a different part of the world and share in their culture!

Impact & Knowledge Gained

International Day has allowed pupils to have a broad enhancement of spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Each pupil came away from the day having learnt or experienced something new. Days like this allow us as a school to promote equality and diversity and, as a result, pupils understand, appreciate and respect difference in the world and its people, celebrating the things we share in common across cultural, religious, ethnic and socio-economic communities.

On Wednesday 5th February, Willow Class had a really exciting afternoon making torches as a way of applying all the knowledge they have gained this term about electricity. After an initial discussion about whether torches gave renewable or non-renewable energy; a recap on what all the parts in a circuit were called and what conductors and in-sulators are, Willow were joined by Mr Martin-Lawrence who had kindly prepared a lot of resources for them to make the torch making a fairly simple process. We were also joined by 10 other willing parents who helped the children create amazing torches! Once the children had assembled the circuits and screwed all the parts into place, the joy on their faces when they flicked them on was fantastic to see! They then decorated them with their own creative flair and proudly showed them off to one another. What a fantastic afternoon to share in all the learning that the children have done this term and some amazing design work from Willow Class! A huge thank you to all the parents who came in to help – we could not have done it without you! A special thank you to Mr Martin-Lawrence (and Thomas!) who prepared a lot of the parts beforehand and were the resident experts for the afternoon.

St Mary’s enjoyed a whole day of art. The children had four different sessions of art teaching them different art skills. They learnt mono-printing, 3-D art and splatter painting, how to draw a portrait of a friend, and watercolours. This was a great opportunity for the children to immerse themselves in one subject for the whole day. A local artist Sue Holpin led the session for portraiture and the parents had the opportunity to buy her art. It was fantastic that the children were able to learn new things from professional artists and express themselves in different ways. Thank you to all the staff who volunteered to lead the sessions; Miss Munn, Mrs Waterman and Mrs Carpenter!

Impact & Knowledge Gained

The impact on the children’s learning was that they consolidated and gained art skills in areas that they had not experimented with before. The day allowed KS1 children to develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space and gave our KS2 pupils the opportunity to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawin g and painting.

It was great to have Abi and Lydia from Fun Abounds come in and run a gymnastics workshop with each class on Thursday! They taught the children a bit about each of the gymnastics disciplines and taught them some of the stretches and exercises involved with each one. They showed the children some amazing clips of athletes at various Olympics events, which were really inspiring for all to watch. What an fantastic way to get involved with a sport that many maybe haven’t experienced before!

Maple Class have spent a lesson thinking about their new topic ‘Off We Go!’

They discussed what they knew already and what they would like to learn about. Lilac Class took them to the library to find some relevant books. They showed the children how the books were ordered and catalogued. They explained about non- fiction books. The pairs of Buddy’s selected books about transport and read them together. Maple Class brought the books back to the classroom to use throughout the term for their independent learning. It is always brilliant to see the great collaboration, support and sharing of ideas, knowledge and enthusiasm at St Mary’s.

The whole school paused to explore and celebrate wellbeing. We started by wearing our slippers to school to help us feel relaxed and comfortable! In the morning, each class took part in four different activities to learn different ways to look after themselves and their wellbeing. This included taking part in different mindfulness activities, which the children can do themselves at home to relax; learning about how to look after our bodies by making sure we are eating healthily; practising different elements of First Aid, such as ‘Dr ABC’ and how to help blood flow back to our hearts when we are hurt and lastly, joining in with  different sensory activities  to help focus our brains and connect with our bodies. We then spent a chilly afternoon at Forest School, which helps with wellbeing through building relationships, talking with others and allowing our brains to stop and focus on one thing at a time  – the amazing setting and fresh air helps too! Please see the Forest School page on our website for more information about what everyone got up to! It was great to have so many grown-ups join us at the woods yesterday and thank you for being so helpful to all the children. What a fantastic day to remind us of the importance of our wellbeing, particularly at such a busy time of year!

Impact & Knowledge Gained

Highlighting the importance of wellbeing ensures a broad enhancement of the pupils’ moral and social development. It has built on the children’s knowledge of how to eat healthily and also that their mental health is just as important as their physical health. The pupils now have a range of strategies available to them and are aware of how to be safe, how to figure out what their feelings might be telling them and the importance of their relationships with others.

Willow class went to Hever Castle to learn more about the Tudors and Anne Boleyn. Along with the other children in years 3 and 4 in the Federation, we learnt a lot about the Tudors in a really fun and engaging way. We also saw many different types of Tudor houses on our journey which allowed us to discuss our learning at school in a real context.

As we are coming up to Christmas, we started off by looking around the Christmas Trail that was set up in the gardens to the Castle, which helped us to explore the gardens more fully in a way that the children found fascinating. We also went around the Yew Maze and in to the Mirror room to allow us to have some fun whilst learning about the crops in the Tudor gardens.

After eating our lunch, we looked around the castle and in the Tudor gardens, which showed the type of herbs the Tudors used and showed the topiary that they often had in the form of a giant chess set! At the entrance to the castle, we were greeted by Anne Boleyn – we managed to get a picture with her afterwards!

We absolutely loved looking around the castle and trying to find as many things as we could that we’ve learnt in school so far this term, but also looking for new pieces of information about the Tudors from the castle. We were able to see the type of furniture rich people had during the Tudor times, how rich people would dress in the Tudor times and how people prepared for battle in the Tudor times. The portraits that were positioned all around the house were a real highlight too. One of the main things we didn’t realise before was quite how short they were – their beds and doorways were tiny! On our way out, the guide also told us that we had to be careful walking down the stairs on the way out, as they were all uneven to trip up any potential attackers to the castle as they wouldn’t be concentrating on where they were placing their feet.

Before we came back to school, we had a quick play in the Tudor Towers. It was so much fun but was very slippery, so we had to be very careful. But we had a great time anyway.

We’d all like to say a massive thank you to our parent helpers and also to all of our parents who have allowed us to go on the trip.

Impact and Knowledge Gained

The children were able to deepen their knowledge about the Tudors, both by learning more about what we had been doing in class and by allowing us to learn extra facts about the Tudors, as we are unable to learn everything there is about the Tudors at school. They enjoyed being able to see how the rich Tudor homes were set up, and the furniture and clothes they would have had. Finally, the children were able to see what the rich people’s gardens would have been like in the Tudor times to compare them to ours and to see how they used them in different ways to us.

Roll Up, Roll Up!	Music	Song Lyrics
The Forgotten Toys	Music
Going on a Journey	Music
Follow the Star	Music
We Sing of the Birth	Music
Run with Haste to Bethlehem	Music
Herod!	Music
Follow the Star (reprise)	Music
Have You Heard	Music
Now Out Story Has Been Told	Music

 

On Tuesday 19th November Cherry went on a Hartfield Village walk as part of our “What happens where I live ?” topic.

We walked from the Lych Gate and to the Anchor Pub which used to be a workhouse until 1891. We then walked down to the old station which is where some of us had gone to playgroup.

We loved kicking the leaves as well!! We then walked to Salisbury house and looked at the cannons which decorate the top of the house. This was because a cannon ball had been fired in 1876 from the Earl De La Warr’s garden by accident by some children and it had landed in Hartfield! We finished at the Pooh Bear shop and learnt how Christopher Robin had been taken by his nanny to buy sweets there when he was a child.

On Thursday, all classes took part in UK Parliament week. We started the day with an assembly looking at the structure of Parliament and how it began. Then, throughout the day, each class took part in an activity. Maple Class looked at the importance of being able to vote, whilst the other classes each had a debate about a topic they decided on. It was great to see the children be so enthusiastic and have more of an understanding about how their country is run.

‘I enjoyed learning about the parties and then splitting between Labour and Conservative for our election!’ – Francesca, Year 6

‘Parliament is made of two houses – the House of Commons and the House of Lords!’- Max, Year 1

‘It was really fun to debate and vote for who our teacher should be!’ – Freddie, Year 2

Impact & Knowledge Gained

All children now have a greater understanding of how laws are created and the structure of Parliament. They were able to link the British Values to the topics they debated and can now understand why a democratic Parliament is important. They learnt about the role of the Monarch as part of this and how a Prime Minister is elected.

‘Crash-out on the HMS Cavalier’

Tuesday 5th November—Wednesday 6th November 2019

As part of our topic this term, Lilac Class took a trip to the Chatham Historic Dockyard to experience what life was like there during World War Two. What an action-packed trip this turned out to be! They started the morning by having a tour of the HMS Ocelot submarine—many were shocked by the size inside (considering it would have slept 69 crew members) and somewhat in awe of the fact that they would go 3 months without showering! They were then tasked with counting how many air-raid shelters they could spot on sight, before getting the chance to go inside one. This air-raid shelter was used by Officers during WW2 and was therefore classed as ‘posh’, which shocked many of the children. Sound effects were used to enable the children to hear what an air-raid would have sounded like and they sang a traditional WW2 song to keep themselves entertained during the raid. After lunch, the children were taken to The Ropery, where they learnt how rope is made and even got to make a piece to bring back to school! They were then put into competition with each other to create a WW2 Warship replica and race them to see whose was the fastest—and most watertight! After a filling dinner, we headed to the HMS Cavalier (the last remaining WW2 warship) to set up our bunks for the night. We were given a tour of the ship by a retired Naval Officer, who told the children some great stories and facts about life as a sailor, and we even managed to spot some fireworks whilst up on deck! The next day, we spent some time looking around the museums on site (after a full English for breakfast, of course!) and exploring the dockyard. It was a fantastic trip and the children behaved so beautifully, even though they were full of questions and excitement.

Impact & Knowledge Gained

An exciting and educational overnight adventure on board the Royal Navy’s last remaining Second World War Destroyer. The children were able to experience life on board first hand, sleeping in real sailors’ bunks in two of the ship’s original Aft Mess Decks. Their knowledge of battle strategy and artillery used during the Second World War is now clear. They learnt about the role of the Dockyard during WW2 and were also able to go into a real-life Air Raid Shelter and gain an understanding of people’s struggle. They have since used their experience and all of the things they got to do to write a persuasive and informative leaflet, encouraging people to visit.

 

This term we are launching our 10-minute challenge, whereby all children will be attempting to jog or run continuously for 10 minutes without stopping, during their PE lessons.

The aim is to build up their stamina and fitness over the coming weeks to enable them to complete the challenge without stopping.

They will be timed each week to see how long they can run before they have to stop. This information will then be used to help children track their progress.

It is not a race, but a personal challenge for each child. A similar programme is already established at our other Federated schools and has proved to be a great success and is now being rolled out here at St.Mary’s.

Healthy Body = Healthy Mind – why not try this at home and get active as a Family  and put yourselves to the test!

Watch this space for further updates.

On Friday 11th October, Cherry class went on the bus to Forest Row to Stone Cottage Dentist to learn more about how to look after our teeth as part of our topic ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’. The children really enjoyed going on the bus and sat on the top deck! The children had a turn at sitting in the dentist’s chair and practised brushing some models of teeth to check they were doing it correctly. We all learnt about how to look after our teeth and which foods can help us to keep them strong and healthy. We even got a goody bag to take home – thank you Stone Cottage we all had a great time!!

Impact and Knowledge Gained

The children learnt how their diet is important in keeping their teeth healthy, linking to their science learning about diet affecting their overall health. They consolidated their understanding of what a healthy diet consists of by discussing the food groups that we need to keep our bodies strong. By using a dentist that is close to the school, the trip helped enhance their knowledge of their local surroundings.

The Impact of Buddy time is for the children to build their confidence and personal and social relationships, to support them through their first year at School.

The impact can be seen through the skills learned, activities we do, and the observations and discussions which the children have with each other.

At SMV Maple Class and their Year 6 Buddies have half an hour together every Tuesday afternoon.

So far this term the children have made collages of themselves. They have learned to use scissors and glue to make a collage. The children all talked about how they are special.

They have been on a number hunt around the school, where they spotted numbers in classrooms and the outdoor environment. It was also a chance to become more familiar with the school building, with support from their knowledgeable Buddies.

This week the Reception cohort shared their ‘All About Me’ books, which they made in the summer. They talked about things that they liked, places they have been and asked questions about each other.

 

On Monday 24th June, Willow class dressed up and took their learning about Greeks over to Chiddingly School to share 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!

We would also like to say a massive THANK YOU to the PTFA who have given each class some money to spend over the year: Willow used their class pot to pay ‘Hands on History’ to come in and work with us. They were excellent and it really made a difference to the children to be able to have first-hand experiences of Ancient Greek life!

Impact and Knowledge Gained

The children empathised with Spartan warriors as they re-enacted a sword and shield fight. They also got the chance to see some artefacts up close and thought carefully about what they were used for. Finally, the children consolidated their previous learning in class about gods and godesses and had a go at writing with the Greek alphabet. They also spent some time learning about life at home and the Ancient Greek’s approach to medicine.

On Friday 21st June, thanks to the PTFA and your generous donations over the last year, we had a whole school workshop with Singing Nation. From 9 o’clock and throughout the day, the school was filled with beautiful singing as the children learnt not one, but two songs! Emma and Nathan taught the children ‘Speechless’ (from the new Aladdin film) and ‘Champion’ which involved the older children wowing us with a rap! These songs linked in brilliantly with our School vision of having Love, Strength and Faith and our learning power of ‘Persevering Parrot’ and never giving up.

At the end of the afternoon, the children showed off their new skills to the parents who joined us for our end of the week celebration assembly. It was so lovely to see the children singing so passionately and having clearly enjoyed a really great day. The staff were amazed the children managed to learn so many words in just a few short hours and are looking forward to seeing these new memory skills transfer into their work in the classroom…!

Again, a huge thank you to the PTFA for fundraising for these music workshops – they have been absolutely fantastic. We have African Drumming coming in next week so keep an eye out for photos of this!

Impact and Knowledge Gained

The children got to experience the joy and reward of singing and performing as a part of a group. The songs chosen by the leaders linked well with our vision and values, and our Learning Powers, giving us more songs to sing as part of our collective worships.

The children started their afternoon by looking out for and collecting rubbish, using a new grabber. By the end of the afternoon they had a whole bag full and talked about how different materials such as metal and glass could be recycled.

The whole class fitted in a puddle on the croft.

There were some great puddles along the way!

The children looked at different shaped flower petals along the way, talking about the heart shaped wild rose petals.

We counted 16 heads of elderflower which we can make into elderflower cordial

The children measured themselves against the grass in the meadow. All of them were proudly taller than the grass!

As always, listening for the troll under the bridge was fun!

As always the slack line was brilliant!

The children dug up some bluebell bulbs and crushed them to make glue. They then tested it by sticking leaves onto the tree trunks.

Thanks to the ptfa for funding some of our new Forest School equipment… the children already love the new trowels, wheelbarrow and litter picker!