Wednesday 19 December 2012

WW2 board Game Homework

Mrs Mansell's class were once again put to task with their topic homework.  They were asked to make a board game relating to an area of WW2 studied this term involving money (the currency at the time), but they were only allowed to use recycled materials to work within the 'Make do and mend' ethos.
Once again, I was staggered at the time spent perfecting the games, the ingenuity of the children shown in the range of ideas and lastly, the pride in the the games they had produced.  The final results were, to say the least' outstanding.
We have spent a very enjoyable morning playing and evaluating the games, sometimes with very surprising results.  Once again, I feel tremendous pride in my hardworking and enthusiastic class.

Christmas Lunch

The day of the long anticipated Christmas Lunch had finally arrived.  The smell of roasting potatoes and Christmas stuffing wafted down the corridors from early in the morning making all our mouths water.
The hall was organised with the help of Miss Dempsey, Mrs Corr and a number of older children.  The children, school governors and other visitors sat for lunch, older and younger children mixed in together as the adults took plates of delicious food to takes.  The Year 6 children took charge of the younger children and 'assisted' with the crackers.  Hats on, fake nails and moustaches attached and a round of 'We wish you a Merry Christmas' sung and lunch was quickly devoured.

A huge thank you to Mrs Hall and Mrs Eagle in the kitchen and to Mrs Taylor for organising a very successful Christmas lunch.

Thursday 29 November 2012

Christmas Decoration Day 2012

The festive season is upon us once again and the fun and festivities has not gone unnoticed at Kelsale.
Christmas decoation day signals the approach of the Christmas Fayre and the mad rush that are the Christmas productions.
All five classroom were equipped ready with many different seasonal art and craft activities ready to decorate the school building.  A plentiful supply of cotton wool, tissue paper, paper plates, and of course, glitter were ready and waiting when the children arrived at school, armed with a chocolate donation for the Fayre and adult helpers.
As the day progresses, we began to run short of space as reindeer, santas, fairies, trees and wreaths started to take over.

A fun time was had by all.  As always, the children's behaviour was exemplary and the whole day was well supported by staff and adult helpers alike.  A huge thank you to all involved.  Same time next year?

Saturday 10 November 2012

School Disco 2012

The social event of the year took place in the school hall last night.  Glitter, hairbands, shirts, ties, heeled shoes and plenty of energy piled into the school's front door and Lee Ruffles, who had kindly offered to DJ for the event, started up the music.



A snack and drink were provided.


Followed by, what has become, the traditional break dancing 'dance off'. 





A fantastic evening was enjoyed by all the children, who behaved beautifully, although I would imagine there were several very tired children making their way home to bed afterwards.

A big thank you to all adult helpers and a huge thank you to Lee Ruffles as he gave his time so generously.
 

Thursday 8 November 2012

KS2 Flying High

Yesterday, all of KS2 plus helpers travelled to IWM Duxford as part of there World War 2 history topic.  We had all spent time looking at Google maps, planning our journey and the Duxford website, becoming increasingly excited about the exhibits we might see.

Our first clue that we had arrived the the giant aeroplane hanger that appeared as we come around the corner.  The noise on the bus escalated immediately, further aided by the site of a Hurricane plane at the entrance.  We had arrived.

What followed was a fabulous, fun filled day, packed full of information, amazement at the planes, shelters and bombs seen and even a walk through Concorde.

The children were fantastically well behaved and showed a great deal of interest and respect for the displays seen.

A huge thank you to all the helpers who came, without whom, we wouldn't be able to go to such fascinating places.


Wednesday 24 October 2012

WW2 Project Homework.

At the beginning of term, Mrs Mansell's class were set a WW2 homework project that was set to take 8 weeks to complete.  A variety of options were available, such as the building of models, research, drawing and even cooking.

As handing in day approached, an array of fabulous projects began making their way into school.  We quickly realised that many of the children were going above and beyond our initial expectations as the standard of much of the work was stunning.

Mrs Mansell and Miss Dempsey decided that the work could not go unseen and so Miss Dempsey set out our own exhibition space in the library.

This was visiited by a large number of parents after school tonight and will also be open for viewings before school tomorrow morning.

A huge thank you to all the children ( and their parents) who put in an amazing amount of effort and made their teachers very happy and proud.  We look forward to many more successful projects in the future.


Guy Making

With a later half term holiday, we had to begin preparations for the village Bonfire night early.
Old clothes were donated to the school and Mr Watts delivered a bag of straw. The children produced plans and designs.  All were ready for an afternoon of guy making.




The KS2 children working in mixed age groups with their Year 6 team leader. As the afternoon progressed, each guy took on it's own personality and their makers became very fond of them, even naming them and giving them their very own stories.

Thank you again to all the adult helpers who spent the afternoon out in the damp and cold, not so secretly, enjoying themselves.

Harvest Festival 2012

Once again, Mrs Gill and Miss Dempsey were kept very busy with the large quantities of food brought in for our Harvest Festival.  Their display was set up on Wednesday afternoon, ready for our harvest celebrations on Thursday morning.

Each class had prepared prayers, songs and poems and performed them to a packed hall of friends and family.



Hymns were sung by both children and audience before Revd Andy Wolton closed the celebration.
Children were lead back to classes and the organised band of parent volunteers began parceling up the food goodies.  In total more than 90 packages were made.  The children, along with adult helpers, delivered the parcels to the older members of the community.

Since the deliveries, we have received many letters and cards of thanks, many of them particularly grateful for the mini Mars bars hidden in the centre of the parcel.

Monday 1 October 2012

Spellbinder 2012


The children (and adults) arrived in school today with the expectation of having a magical day in the company of 'Spellbinder'. As the walked through the hall on a dreary, rainy morning, the children caught their first glimpse of the excitement to come. Spellbinder and Spellbinder Lady had arrived early to set up the stage.


KS2 went into the hall in the morning to listen to 'Spellbinder's' stories and sing and dance and have a thoroughly good time. Again, so many photos, I needed to show them all.



KS1 followed after lunch and were enthralled by the fantastic story telling and energetic singing and dancing.

A fabulous time was had by all (and I mean everyone)!

A huge thank you to Spellbinder and Spellbinder Lady for a truly enchanting day.
More information on 'Spellbinder' can be seen at the link below. 


Wednesday 12 September 2012

Paired Reading

As we well know, one of the many things that make Kelsale such a special school are the caring relationships   developed and nurtured between the children of all ages.  Never was this seen so clearly than during paired reading yesterday.

Every Tuesday morning, for 20 minutes, members of Mrs Ward's and Mrs Mansell's classes pair up.  The older child hears the younger child read.  They ask questions about their reading book and discuss the pictures together.  They then spend time looking at picture books and library books.  As you can see from the pictures below, the time is enjoyed by all the children and a lovely relationship developed between the two children.  It brought a tear to the eye and made all adults feel extremely proud.


Monday 10 September 2012

Getting Ready for War

The topic for school this term is Britain and Ourselves.  Key Stage 2 are focusing on World War 2, and in particular, the home front and the effect of the war on children.
Having heard Nevile Chamberlain's declaration of war against Germany on the radio, Year 5/6 began preparations.

Some of the children concentrated their efforts on getting the blackouts up before the air raid warden started his rounds.    
 
Others began making gas masks and gas mask boxes.


Any group went outside with Miss Dempsey and began preparing the ground for our Anderson Shelter.  They soon realised this was going to be much harder than they thought.!


There is still much work to be done,so i had better sign off for today.

Over and out...

Wednesday 5 September 2012

New Foundation First Day at School

It was a beautiful, sunny morning for our new foundation childrens first day at Kelsale School. As daunting as it can be, the children quickly settled into the day.  Just before their first assembly, the new children were introduced to their Year 5/6 reading partner so they had a friendly face to approach in the playground or around the school building.  Within minutes, the older and younger pupils were busy chatting, away discussing holidays, pets and things they love to do.

The beautiful weather continued so all the children could not only make the most out of the adventure play and transport area but also spent lunchtime exploring the school grounds and making friends.

We hope all the new and old pupils (and the new adults) had a lovely first day back and are looking forward to coming back again tomorrow.

Saturday 1 September 2012

A Brand New School Year

Just a quick reminder to all that school starts for the children on Wednesday 5th September, but teachers will be in school on Monday and Tuesday if you have any urgent queries.



All teachers are looking forward to seeing you all again ready for another fabulous school year!

Wednesday 18 July 2012

End of Year Church Service 2012

Another bright morning saw the whole school walking down to Church for our service of thanks.  With the help of one of the church wardens, Mrs Taylor range a church bell to welcome us in.




The program included Rev. Andy Wolton discussing colours and their meanings relating to the Church calendar, followed  by a number of pieces of work read out by some of the children summarizing many of the events that have taken place at school over the year.





The children and adults alike 'rose the roof' by singing a number of favourite songs finishing the service with The Lord's Prayer and The National Anthem.  A lovely opportunity for us all to be thankful for the variety of amazing and exciting experiences we have had at school this year.


Tuesday 17 July 2012

School Picnic

Once again, the sun shone down on us as we grabbed our picnic blankets, lunches and parents or relatives and headed out to the school field for a glorious picnic.
A lovely time was had by all. We could have almost been convinced it was Summer!









Saturday 14 July 2012

Kelsale Sports Day and Summer Fete 2012

Lots of nervous energy as staff and children watched the skies and the weather reports hoping for a break in the rain for Friday afternoon.  Once again, luck was on our side.  Just a few spots of rain but we were determined to go ahead.  The PTFA spent the morning setting up the various stalls as Mrs Ward spent the morning running around organising the sporting event.

At 1.15pm, the fete opened and parents began arriving.



At 2 o'clock, the races began. A variety of races were ran by all children.  Cheering and shouts of support could be heard from adults and children alike creating an amazing atmosphere.


The points from the swimming gala event were added onto the points total from the races and the winning team was announced...

THE YELLOW TEAM


Again, huge thanks to the PTFA, lead by Rachel,  for organising events, thank you to Mrs Ward for organising the sports day events and thank you to the children and their friends and relatives for making this another very successful event.  Totals raised will be announced when counted.

Tuesday 10 July 2012

KS2 Swimming Gala at Leiston

All children were absolutely fabulous, in behaviour and sportsmanship. They cheered team members on and other schools.
Overall we managed team 2nd place and just lost 1st place by 2 points!
We came first in the U10 girls freestyle both the heats and the final, second in girls breaststroke in the heats and the final, first in boys backstroke in the heats and second in the final, first in the girls backstroke in the heats and the final.
The mixed style relay team won in the heat and the final.  The medley team came second in the heats and the final.
In total we achieved 20 points as a team!  Winners of the individual races who won the finals were also awarded medals.


It was an absolutely fantastic afternoon.  Thanks to all parents who were also able to attend and support.


At Easton Farm Park with KS1

Despite cloudy skies, KS1, teachers and a selection of brave (or crazy) adult helpers set off for a day at Easton Farm park.  For most of the Foundation children, it was their first experience of a school trip and on a coach with friends and to say they were excited was an understatement!

On arrival, we split into 2 groups.  Group 2 headed towards the pony and cart ride while Group 1 went pond dipping.  We swapped after half an hour.




We also had the opportunity to hug a bunny or baby guinea pig.



After lunch, we once again split into our 2 groups and either spent some time feeding the animals or going for an adventure through the woods.



As all the children had been so well behaved and because the weather had been so kind, we spent some time in the playground at the end of the day.


A big thank you to all the adult helpers and to all the lovely children for a very enjoyable day out.  

Friday 6 July 2012

The morning after the day before- Olympic Torch 2012

After all the excitement of yesterday, Mrs Gill and I have been spending the morning looking at, giggling at and sorting out photographs from yesterday. I will try to add photos as the day continues.




As you may have heard from the children, all had the opportunity, not only to hold, but to have a photograph taken with one of the Olympic torches. These will be a lovely memento of the day for the children so we have decided to have each photo professionally printed as a 7" by 5" image which you will be able to purchase from the school for £1.  This covers the cost of printing and delivery.  Any additional funds will be put towards PE equipment for the school, which helps to reinforce the Olympic values.

Thursday 5 July 2012

The Olympic Torch comes to Kelsale School.

Wow, what an amazing, once in a life time day we have today.  Every time the teachers start the week with the words 'I'm sure this week will be normal' something happens, but today, that something will be a memory both children and adults will carry with them always.

We knew that today would contain lots of fun and Olympic activities, organised by Mrs Ward.
At the beginning of the day, all the children changed into one of the Olympic ring colours and were organised into circles on the school field by the teachers.
Parents and other adults gathered on the amphitheatre as the children held their position and photographs were taken.




Following this, our own Olympic torches were lit by our very own Greek Goddesses, symbolizing the beginning of our Opening Ceremony.  All classes took part, Class 1 with a song and morris dancing, Class 2 with a song sang in a round, Class 3 with their samba band and Class 4 boys with a rap and girls with a dance.  All performed beatuifully.







The children all made a flag representing the different nations taking part in London 2012 and one at a time, stepped forward to announce their country.

New field events equipment had been purchased with money donated by the parish council, so we put these to good use with a carousel of events including shot put, javelin, hurdling and hammer throw among many
others.

We had a break for lunch (yes, this all happened before lunch!) and then took our banners and flags down to our allocated spot on the road side to await the arrival of the Olympic torch.




After a shower of rain and some fairly raucous singing and shouting, we caught our first glimpse of the relay runner.




We walked back to school, wet, but totally in awe of the historical sight we had witnessed.  In fact, we were so excited to be part of the occasion, we drew attention of the nearby news crew, who stopped to interview a group of children.

TV Interview

We made our our way back to school to continue our field events.  All of us that is except two year 5 children who took part in a radio interview for Radio Suffolk, alongside Mrs Taylor.  They answered questions extremely well and represented the school beautifully.

Radio Interview (from 1 hour 49 minutes)

I can truthfully say that it has been an amazing day that none of us will forget. The children were amazing and took part in all the activities with gusto.  A huge thank you to all the adults who helped, supported and cheered us on and a huge thank you to Mrs Ward and Mr and Mrs Lumb for helping to make this day so special.
A quote from one parent today says it all.

'Kelsale Rocks'. 


Wednesday 4 July 2012

Mrs Taylor is Famous!

As a brilliant kick-start to our Olympic festival tomorrow, Mrs Taylor was interviewed by Radio Suffolk this lunch time.  She was asked about what activities we will be undertaking as part of our celebration and our general level of excitement in preparation for the torch coming through Kelsale tomorrow.  

Radio Suffolk- Move to 14 minutes into programme.

A huge well done to Mrs Taylor.  You sounded very professional and very proud.  Best we make sure that New Zealand flag is waving tomorrow!

Monday 2 July 2012

New Foundation children come to visit.

Today was a day of change.  We welcomed most of the new foundation children, due to start in September, for a morning's taster seesion to see if they like us!  We also welcomed four new members of staff: Mrs Drew who will be teaching Year 3 and three teaching assistants, Miss Sparrow, Miss Pugh and Mrs Kiley.

The new children settled in very quickly.  They spent the morning painting, playing and meeting the other children in their class.  They came into assembly and sat beautifully all the way through.  They went out to play with the rest of the school and finished off their morning with a tour of the school grounds, including a visit to the chickens and a try of the adventure playground.



We look forward to getting to know all the new children and seeing them settle into school life in September. A huge welcome.

Chick Update- The Hatching!

Staff arrived at school this morning to be told by Andy that the chicks had hatched.  The first of four appeared over night on Sunday and the others followed later that day.  Luckily, the early hours of the event were caught on video by The Hall family!


Thank you to Andy and Lucy for giving us the opportunity to see this amazing event and watch the chicks grow.

Thursday 28 June 2012

Morris Dancing

Today Mr Holt organised and taught  Morris Dancing to all the children in school.  The children, knowing Mr Holt, were not alarmed by his traditional costume, in fact, this added to the general air of excitement.
Making the most of the beautiful weather, the event was held outside on the playground.
The children were taught a number of moves and sequences, increasing in complexity as the morning progressed.  The older children used hazel sticks as part of their dance.  Even the most reluctant of dancers could not resist Mr Holt's enthusiasm and there were sounds of disappointment as each session came to a close.



Thank you again Mr Holt for all your time and effort spent organising today and the obvious effort you put into our Sport's week theme.







Wednesday 27 June 2012

KS2 Archery Experience

As if this morning's excitement wasn't enough, this afternoon, KS2 were introduced to archery by Andy Gardiner from Saxmundham Middle school, with the help of Mr Holt.
Thank you Andy for a very enjoyable afternoon.  We really appreciate your support.
Sport's week continues tomorrow with Morris Dancing.  Watch this space...

Race for Life 2012

As the highlight of Sport's Week 2012, the whole school (children, staff and some very hardy parents) took part in the Race for Life raising money for Cancer Research UK.  This is a charity that is very close to many people as lives have been affected by this devastating disease.   It is for this reason that the perseverance and  good cheer seen on the faces of all this morning was so touching.

Mrs Taylor set the standard at the front of the girl's race followed by all 90 children.  All ran 25 laps of the school field (5 km) which was a massive achievement raising in excess of £1200.


I found it incredibly difficult to choose from the lovely photos  taken by Mrs Gill for this blog, so decided to try something new and insert a slideshow.
Hopefully this will allow you to see all of our wonderful children, staff and parents working very hard.

It is days like this that really show what a special place Kelsale CEVCP is.  A huge thank you to Mrs Ward for organising, parents for supporting, TA's for running and organising and our wonderful children for just keeping those legs moving and making us all very proud. Group Hug!


Tuesday 26 June 2012

Chick update!

Mrs Ward's class have been looking after an incubator containing hen's eggs in their room for the past 2 weeks.  Today, Andy and Lucy came into class with their egg lamp to see if they could see any sign of occupied eggs...with success.  4 eggs look very promising with 2 other possibles.  The children have been studying the life cycle of a chick and watching videos of hatching chicks.  Hopefully Sunday or Monday of next week, we should see some bundles of fluff of our own.  Watch this space.


Erin-Lea Murphy Dance Taster sessions with KS1

This afternoon, Erin, from the Erin-Lea Murphy School of Dance, came into school to work with KS1.  Mrs Ward's class chose to work on Some Disco moves, while Miss Bicker's class opted for Hip Hop.  The thumping music and giggling could be heard from all corners of the school as the children (and adults) busted some moves!





Sorry Mrs Ward and Miss Bickers.  It had to be done!




Lots more fun, all as part of Sport's week.


KS2 Swimming Gala 2012

This morning, both KS2 classes took part in their swimming galas.  Each was well attended by parent and other family members and friends.  The children worked very hard, always eager for the opportunity to show off how much they have improved during the year.
Another sunny, beautiful day and hopefully the first of many as we continue to work together in Sport's Week.

Monday 25 June 2012

KS1 Swimming Gala 2012

This afternoon all KS1 children took part in a swimming gala to open Sports week.  Parents were invited to attend and shout encouragement to all children as they took part in a number of swimming/water confidence races.  Points were awarded to the children in 1st, 2nd and 3rd places as well as points for those giving 100% effort and most improved.  All points are converted into stars and count towards final tally for this years sports day and  colour team cup at the end of the school year.  Results will not be announced until sports afternoon on 13th July.  Here is a small selection of photos from the afternoons fun.

KS2 swimming galas will take place to0morrow morning, weather permitting.  Parents please come and support your children.  For more information on other Sport's week activities, see whiteboard.

Thursday 14 June 2012

Year 3 camping trip- The ones the teachers don't want you to see...

We are currently packing up after a lovely cooked breakfast.  A good nights sleep was had by all.

Just to finish off, a series of photos that didn't make it in the original blogs... you'll see why!

A huge thank you to all our wonderful children who have made this trip just amazing with their fabulous behaviour and wicked sense of humour! Huge thank you to both Adrian and Lucy for giving up their time, sleep and love to make sure we enjoyed ourselves and ate well.  Looking forward to many more trips.














Any questions...ask the children!