A very successful Firework Night

Just wanted to say a massive thank you and well done to my fellow Governors and the Friends of School team for pulling off a successful fire work night on the 5th Nov.  From a personal point of view (organising the fireworks themselves), having the time to set-up on a Saturday rather than a weekday made things a lot easier and less stressful, and overall everything went off with a "bang!!" which was great.

Trevor Keep - 17/11/2016

Maths Book review

A bit late, but just thought I would record the fact that I did a very interesting maths book review with the Head Teacher on the 14th Oct.  Looking at sample books of the different level achievers in each year group a number of good points and opportunities for improvement were identified and overall it emphasised the importance to me of the teaching standards being the no. 1 priority on the school development plan.

Overall a very worthwhile and interesting visit.

Trevor Keep - 17/11/2016

Sports Day Fun - 14th July

Thank goodness Thursday 14th July (our reserve Sports day) was a sunny day!
It was great to see all the children taking part, doing their very best and having lots of fun in all the events. There were lots of new records set in the Key Stage 2 afternoon events in particular, which is a fantastic achievement.
The children of Stour were delighted to come first on the Key Stage 2 leader board, but overall for the whole school Melbury just came in ahead to take the top spot, followed by Stour, Bulbarrow & Hambledon.
Well done everyone, it was fantastic to see such great sportsmanship across the school.

Amanda Oakley
(Foundation Governor / Year 5 parent)

School Production

Wow!!  Congratulations to Sarah Walton, Rose Rees and all the children and other staff involved in this year's school production - what a fantastic show!!

Thoroughly enjoyed it and really cannot thank everyone enough for such a great effort.  Regards, Trevor Keep - Chair of Governors

Maths Learning Walk

Apologies for the late posting, but thought I would just say thank you to the staff and children that accommodated my maths learning walk on Friday 24th June - a very interesting visit and set of discussions from my perspective, where I was focussing on differentiation and how it is evidenced in the children's learning.  It is fascinating to hear how children each explain what they enjoy and don't enjoy about Maths and what they find easy and hard.  Regards, Trevor Keep

Ocean Commotion.....

The school production  'Ocean Commotion' was a wonderful show. The scene was set with blue/green fabric and shining glitter ribbon depicting waves. A painted underwater scene of exotic fish along the front of the stage gave the large audience a hint of the show content.  Music with a catchy beat featured throughout, the singing was amazing and all the performers impressive. The dancing steps and actions were well remembered and looked great fun to do !
The audience met many sea creatures including a  dolphin, a hammerhead shark, orca and tuna fish -- who were instructed to 'Look out for the net'. The most memorable fish was the 'Red Herring' who played the joker and wore a stunning red costume.
Everyone had worked very, very hard to provide a very enjoyable show with super props and costumes. Well done to all involved !!

Key Stage Two Production 30th June - 1st July

A huge well done to all the Key Stage Two children that took part in the school production Ocean Commotion! Both nights were a huge success with excellent acting, superb dancing and fantastic singing by all involved.
The witty script and catchy songs were very much enjoyed by the audience and it was clear to see the children having lots of fun performing it.
A big thank you to all the staff and children involved for all your hard work and commitment.

Amanda Oakley

Year 2 Assembly

Year 2 set themselves an amazing task. 30 Days Wild Challenge!
Each day of June, both at school and home, the challenge was to explore the natural environment. They carefully noted what happened when  watercolour art work was left out in the rain, learnt how to make mud paint, made a garden hanging from found natural items and looked in the garden for some wild flowers, the petals of which were made into a rainbow art work. Time was spent observing clouds, barefoot and sound walks were enjoyed and written about.
For parents, carers and visitors to the assembly the treat was delicious garlic bread. The garlic had been planted last autumn and nurtured throughout the winter and spring to produce bulbs, the cloves of which were made into a paste to spread on the bread and then warmed in the oven. The harvest was so plentiful many people were able to take away bulbs for some home cooking ! Well done to Year 2, an excellent presentation with super observational skills demonstrated.
Congratulations to team Bulbarrow with 293 points.   

                      

Arts Week

On the Friday of Arts Week all the work completed was displayed in the hall. What a wonderful show, colourful well presented and executed art work from the whole school . Inspiration was taken from many artists and a wide variety of mediums had been used. Paintings, papier mache,
cut-outs in the style of Henri Matisse, clay waterlillies and an art installation on the hill of paper poppies taking inspiration from the art work and picture 'Field of Poppies' by Claude Monet. Differing grades of pencil lead were tried out, mathmatical drawings of M.C Escher were demonstrated and print work, with a print of astronaut Tim Peake as a background, over which different blocks of colour were applied. The 'comic-strip' art of Roy Lichtenstein made an amazing impact - a real wow factor ! Congratulations to all staff and pupils in achieving such high standards and a fantastic show.

Sport Relief Day

On the 18th March school pupils were given the opportunity to dress in sports clothes and give donations to Sport Relief.
Many sports were represented including rugby, football, swimming, athletics and dance. Year 4 performed the Haka, a traditional challenge from the Maori people of New Zealand. Led by a ferocious looking Mrs Vivian they stamped, chanted, beat their chests and elbows in a well rehearsed and scary rendition. Well done, Year 4 !

Year 5 Assembly

The class had been learning about the Roman invasion. We learnt that the Romans introduced underfloor heating, communal baths and toilets,built straight roads and were fierce fighters. A group gave a demonstration of marching soldiers -- complete with colourful shields and a very strict leader - who all looked very fit and obeyed the orders given. The visitors were treated to delicious jam tarts.

Primary Maths Training for Governors

Just a note to say that I attended a very interesting training course on Primary School Maths for Governors on the 1st March.  Only a half day course, but a lot of information and I certainly obtained a good insight into the new National Curriculum for Maths and what it was trying to achieve.  I hope to use this info to inform my questioning as a Governor in school, but if anyone has any questions of me in the meantime then please ask and I will try to provide some answers.

Trevor Keep (09/03/2016)

Enterprise Week

Just thought I would catch up with events and say what a great week the children seemed to have during Enterprise week.  I went in early morning on the Friday before half term to watch the assembly presentations of what the children had been up to, which was great and then followed this up with my own presentation to the children in Yr5 about my job.  I got asked a lot of intelligent questions, which was great and hopefully the children took something interesting away from my visit - a couple of them certainly looked a picture in my worker protective clothing that they tried on.

Trevor Keep (09/03/2016)

Year 2 Maths lesson

This morning I helped in Year 2. Ms Moscrop was teaching the early stages of multiplication.
After her input the children worked in ability groups . I could see the sense of achievement when one group worked out the relationship between multiplication and division.
Thank you Year 2 for a lovely lesson.

Sent from my iPad

Year 2 Celebration Assembly

Year 1 excelled in their Celebration Assembly today ! A poem by Roger McGough - The Sound Collector - was performed with skill and evidence of excellent learning. The verses of the poem were recited by heart by small groups and the last verse by the whole class. The class had been exploring 'materials' , looking in depth at different types and their uses. The class blog has some illustrations of their research and the collages that had been made showed good understanding about very different ways to use all kinds of materials. The collages were colouful and very well thought out and executed. Assembly visitors, parents and carers were then treated to the very best of snacks, fridge slices, made with biscuits and thick chocolate .. Thank you and Well Done, Year 2 !

Year 1 Museum Visit

This term the topic for Year 1 is 'The Victorians'. A museum visit was arranged to the Priests House in Wimborne. The whole class dressed up in victorian clothes and were warmly greeted at the Museum by the school visits volunteer, Mrs Brown. She introduced herself and all the children loudly replied 'Good Morning, Mrs Brown' at which she was delighted, not knowing perhaps that it was a name very familiar to them ! The exhibits were of great interest from toys to clothes and kitchen items. Being allowed to help light the range, make lemonade and toast in the kitchen were a highlight of the day. Peg dollies were made, very different toys and play things were handled, cabinets explored for unusual victorian artifacts and games which would be familiar to victorian children were played. The children were excited at every new experience and the welcome parent helpers enjoyed the day too. Returning to school after an enjoyable packed lunch, the coach driver was thanked by every child for a safe journey and parents and carers greeted by tired but thrilled children after their first school trip.